Canadian Forestry Journal, November, 191'. 



1391 



Nova Scotia in its stand of timber 

 and extensive new i^rowth of all kinds 

 of wood is progressing. 



It would be impossible in this paper 

 to take up all lines of reproduction 

 and use of Nova Scotia's forest woods. 

 I will therefore take it up as follows: 



Cooperage Doubles in Price 

 Outside of the bigger interests in 

 Lumber production, I think the mat- 

 ter of Cooperage and the pressing 

 need of an annual supply of barrels, 

 fish packages, and boxes will appeal 

 strongly to the farmer, fishman and 

 manufacturer. For many years de- 

 pendance has been placed on the saw 

 mills for a supply of side boards, and 

 log ends to be cut into heads and 

 staves. This supply has fallen off 

 and the price of material advanced 

 to twice the former cost. In hoops 

 the supply has been uncertain for 

 several years past, and notwithstand- 

 ing the importation of cooperage and 

 hoops from New Brunswick, Ontario 

 and abroad, the cost of a barrel has 

 increased and is likely to be more 

 difTicult to obtain and more costly 

 in the future. 



Woodlots vs. Dear Coal 

 Nearly every farm in the Annapolis 

 Valley has a woodlot and with proper 

 looking after it can be a source of 

 profit in producing wood for farm use 

 and for cooperage. 



The pinch in coal this year makes 

 a generous woodpile at the door yard 

 look a pretty good thing to have. 

 The wood pile is of more importance, 

 more consumers need it, and its value 

 has increased. Speaking personally 

 I find the measurement has decreased. 

 For stave wood spruce is the best. 

 It only requires a small sized tree 

 and now is the time to consider whe- 

 ther it would not be good planning 

 to let the woodlot produce stave 

 wood. A thinning out of too thick 

 a growth, trimming off the low 

 branches, letting in the light and air, 

 will quicken the growth and turn a 

 wood lot thicket into a producer of 

 good wood. 



Cheaper Hoops from France 

 Just before the war a buyer of 

 hoops could not be supplied in Nova 



Scotia, and on inquiry found that 

 the hoops required could be imported 

 from France at a price delivered in 

 Halifax the same as usually paid for 

 this kind of hoop produced in New 

 Brunswick and Nova Scotia. 



The French grow the hoop poles 

 as a crop. They have acreage in 

 hoop pole trees that are systematic- 

 ally cut every year, and are thus able 

 not only to supply their own wants, 

 but also able to export them to other 

 countries. Anyone would imagine on 

 looking over districts in this Province 

 where young birch trees are growing, 

 that the supply of hoop poles was 

 unlimited. The man who cuts them 

 will tell you that perhaps one hundred 

 trees out of a thousand are suitable, 

 whilst the rest are either too small, 

 or too large for practical working, or 

 waste wood owing to defects and 

 decay. On the other hand if a tract 

 of young birch was looked after, 

 culled when growing, a first cut of 

 poles made when the bigger trees 

 reached the proper size, the tract 

 could be put in such shape that it 

 would produce an annual crop with 

 economy in time and labour and 

 natural reproduction would fill in 

 the cuttings. 



It must be apparent to any one 

 that such a tract of land Avould have 

 a cash value far greater than ordinary 

 wild land. 



The Prop of Permanence 



Since writing the above I have read 

 the following article in a paper on 

 Present and Possible Products from 

 Canadian Woods, by John S. Bates 

 A.M. Canadian Society of Civil En- 

 gineers. 



"There are several general con- 

 ditions which should be kept in mind 

 by every Canadian. Canada is con- 

 sidered to be the third country of the 

 world in value of Forest Resources. 

 Russia first and United States second 

 in the list. Contrary to public im- 

 pression forest surveys indicate that 

 Canada's present supply of merchant- 

 able timber is only one fifth or one 

 quarter of the supply still available 

 in the United States. 



"There is real necessity for the 



