1390 



Canadian Forestry Journal, November, 1917 



ties that have forest land. In 1913 

 the Act was amended and consoli- 

 dated and is now entitled the For- 

 estry Protection Act. 



A Good Fire Law 



It has met with a most favourable 

 reception by our own people and has 

 been strongly commended by leading 

 Forestry Authorities in Canada and 

 the United States. 



In practical working it demon- 

 strates that fires can be prevented or 

 if started can be stopped. If there 

 is any County in the Province that 

 has land more suitable for growing 

 wood and timber than for any other 

 purpose it should come in under this 

 Act and take advantage of it to pro- 

 tect the growing trees and increase 

 a needed supply of wood. Let me 

 say that the City of Halifax should 

 be interested. They have a beauti- 

 ful spot on the North West Arm, 

 much of that beauty is in the environ- 

 ment, and if forest fires are allowed 

 to creep in as they have been doing 

 in the past few years it will surely 

 spoil the appearance of the Arm and 

 be a disgrace to the City of Halifax. 

 That is not putting it too strongly 

 for a little co-operation between the 

 City authorities and the County 

 would put a stop to the almost annual 

 burnings. 



Deterioration Set-in 



To many. Forestry and Conserva- 

 tion seems to mean a stop to the pro- 

 duction of lumber; but lumber under 

 forestry methods leads to a greater 

 production and the assurance of a 

 future supply. 



What has stopped the larger output 

 of lumber has been fires, and over- 

 cutting. Cutting down the trees 

 faster than the annual growth, and 

 natural reproduction can fill up the 

 gap. Where fires have been severe, 

 or where there has been more than 

 one burn over the same piece of land, 

 it takes from forty to sixty years to 

 reproduce commercial lumber. 



In Nova Scotia we started at the 

 top of the ladder and came down and 

 we have now to start almost at the 

 foot of the ladder and climb. That is 

 to say, in lumbering the virgin timber 



and the older growth has been dis- 

 posed of, and year by year the quality 

 and average of cargoes of export 

 lumber has steadily deteriorated. 

 Nova Scotia is at a point where it is 

 absolutely necessary in the first place 

 to prevent forest fires; and in the 

 second place to be more conservative 

 in the cut of lumber and to let the 

 trees grow. 



Few Seed Trees Left 



Pine lands will reproduce pine if a 

 sufficient number of seed trees are 

 left standing; unfortunately this has 

 seldom been the case in Nova Scotia. 

 It is the same with spruce, the next 

 wood in value, and the more profit- 

 able and quicker to reproduce. The 

 least valuable is the hardwoods and 

 these seed more readily than any 

 other kind. The seeds are small and 

 plentiful, there is an annual crop that 

 spreads readily by the wind and is 

 carried for miles in the Winter on the 

 snow. This seed finds a quick lodge- 

 ment in cut over or burnt lands and 

 accounts for its rapid reproduction 

 as compared with pine or spruce. 



A few years ago the Provincial 

 Government completed a Forest Sur- 

 vey of Nova Scotia. Accompanying 

 the report is a detail map of the whole 

 Province and more particularly the 

 forest areas. It shows in colour the 

 burnt land and the barrens, the stands 

 and growth of pine, spruce, hemlock, 

 hardwood' and mixed growth. When 

 making this survey the Government 

 maps or plans were corrected and 

 consolidated as near as it was possible 

 to do so. for the early forest surveys 

 and land locations have not been at 

 all accurate. 



The Forests Coming Back 

 It is said of Nova Scotia that 

 artificial planting or seeding is not 

 needed, and that natural reproduc- 

 tion is all that is necessary to give 

 a continuous growth, provided forest 

 fires are stopped. 



The Forest Survey of Nova Scotia 

 is a starting point, and at any time 

 comparisons can be made to see if 

 we are progressing or retrograding. 

 It is my opinion under the admirable 

 working of the present fire laws|that 



