1124 



Canadian Forestry Journal, May, 1917 



Problem of Over Ripe Timber in B. C. 



That British Cohimbia stands to- 

 day in greatest possible need of expert 

 forestry, if for no other reason than 

 getting the over-ripe forests of big 

 timber off the ground so that the 

 vast areas shall no longer be idle 

 land, but producing forests for the 

 wants of the coming generations, was 

 a statement made by M. A. Grainger, 

 chief forester for British ColumlDia, 

 before a meeting of the Natural Hi- 

 story Society, of Victoria, B.C. re- 

 cently. 



The proper business of forest land 

 is to grow wood, as much wood as 

 possible each year," said Mr. Grain- 

 ger, "and once you get to the stage 

 where there is no yearly increase in 

 the wood on any acre, you are wast- 

 ing the productive power of that 

 acre. These over-ripe forests are 

 simply timber storehouses. In Brit- 

 ish Columbia we figure that over half 

 of ,the productive powers of our for- 

 est land is being w^asted in this way 

 now. There's no market for ripe 

 lumber, and it can't be cut; that is 

 one reason why you see the forest 

 service trying to get more markets 

 for British Columbia lumber to be 

 sold in. 



When Increase Stops. 



"Practical tests on this coast have 

 shown that the total amount of wood 

 per acre of forest land ceased to in- 

 crease much sooner than might be 

 expected. To take, for instance, the 

 Douglas fir, one might start with 

 300,000 little trees per acre. In the 

 course of 20 years there would pos- 

 sibly be only a few hundred of the 

 fittest left. The elimination would 

 be gradual and continuous, until in 

 the course of 300 or 400 years the 

 logger would find but 10 or 20 big 

 trees left. 



"The quantity of wood standing on 

 an acre increased steadily, while the 

 stronger little trees grew up and de- 

 stroyed the weaker ones until at the 

 end of 100 years there would probably 

 be as much timber on an acre as would 

 make 100,000 feet of lumber. " After 



I 



_„. „_. — . — „_„ — „ ^ 



100 years, on the average, the quan- 

 tity of wood would not increase; the 

 trees would get bigger each year, but 

 .the loss by decay would offset the 

 growth. It was there that practical 



^4 u m u .11 ... u, m en eg „u ..„ ..u „„ „f, 



HANDBOOK OF TREES OF THE 

 NORTHERN STATES AND CANADA 



By Romeyn B. Hough. 



Is photo-descriptive of the leaves, fruits, barks, 

 branchlets, etc , and shows them all with the 

 vividness of reality. Natural sizes ingeniously 

 indicated. Distributions shown by maps. Wood 

 structures by photo-micrographs. 



"With it one wholly unfamiliar with botany can 

 easily identify the trees.'"— Melvil Dewey, Pres. 

 Library Institute. 



"The most ideal Handbook I have seen." — 

 C. HarL Merriam. 



"The most valuable guide to the subjects ever 

 written." — Springfield Republican. 



AMERICAN WOODS 



By Romeyn B. Hough. 



Illustrated by actual specimens, showing three 

 distinct views of the grain of each species. Con- 

 tains 897 specimens of 325 species. Of such ex- 

 ceptional value that its author has been awarded 

 by a learned society a special gold medal on ac- 

 count of its production. 



I Write for information and sample illustrative 



1 specimens. 



! R. B. HOUGH COMPANY 



LOWVILLE, N. Y. 



