1222 



Canadian Forestry Journal, July, 1917 



ond growth of pine had twenty-seven 

 years ago, in many cases, attained a 

 diameter of four to six inches at the 

 but . To-day these trees are ten to 

 eighteen inches at the butt and forty 

 to fifty feet high. Left alone for an- 

 other cjuarter of a century or so there 

 would be in this section a magnificent 

 forest of mature pine. But, so I am 

 told, these immature trees are about 

 to be cut down and sawn up for what 

 can be got out of them now. The 

 chances are that, in the subsecfuent 

 burning of the refuse, fires will be 

 started that will destroy a host of 

 trees still farther from maturity. It 

 does seem a sinful waste of Nature's 

 bounties. 



Ontario's Duty 



These sandy areas at either end of 

 the Great Saucer should never have 

 been alienated from the public do- 

 main. They should have been re- 

 tained as part of a Provincial forest 

 reserve. The duty of to-day is to see 

 that they are brought back into pub- 

 lic ownership and made to serve the 

 purpose Nature intended them to 

 serve — the growing of timber. 



Replanting for Soldiers 



In its editorial columns, the "Globe' 

 observes : 



In the absence of public regulation, 

 this sort of thing will go on until, 

 between cutting and burning, the 

 dune will be left a barren waste, 

 absolutely bare of tree growth of any 

 kind. Then the dunes, a mass of light 

 sand, lashed by winds sweeping down 

 from Georgian Bay, will become a very 

 serious menace to the fertile valley 

 lying to the south. 



To the south of the valley, and 

 north of Barrie, is a sand plateau 

 where the present and past conditions 

 of the sand dunes to the north are re- 

 peated. This plateau was also once 

 covered with timber. Years ago the 

 mature growth was removed. To-day 

 there are considerable numbers of 

 young pines growing from seed scat- 

 tered by the parent stock. Cutting 

 and burning here, too, as the years 

 pass, in the absence of public control, 

 will leave a sandy waste, with more 

 danger to the valley lying below. 



Both plateau and dunes are vir- 

 tually value-less for real agricultural 

 purposes. Both could, under in- 

 telligent forestry management, be 

 made to yield a perpetual source of 

 timber wealth, and, incidentally, to 

 give added protection from storms to 

 one of the most fertile sections of the 

 Province. Intelligent forestry mana- 

 gement can be secured only by the 

 Province taking hold of the property, 

 keeping out cattle, preventing fire, 

 and filling in the bare places by plant- 

 ing. 



The borders of Nottawasaga valley 

 form only one of numerous sections in 

 which such a policy should be followed 

 A well-thought-out and earnestly 

 prosecuted pohcy of reafforestation is 

 one of the most important duties to 

 be taken up after the war. In that 

 work many returned soldiers could 

 find useful and congenial employment. 



iCourtesy, "Rod'and Gun." 

 On the Portage 



