1408 Canadian Forestry Journal, November, 191'. 



SPAIN TO ENCOURAGE NATIONAL PARKS 



The King of Spain has sanctioned a law concerning the formation of 

 National Parks:— 



Under this law all those districts of the national territory shall be known 

 as National Parks which are exceptionally picturesque, wooded or wild, and 

 which are declared to be so by the State for the sole purpose of; facilitating 

 access to them by suitable roads of communication; causing the natural 

 beauty of the landscape, the wealth of flora and fauna, the geographical and 

 hydrological peculiarities to be respected by protecting them in the most 

 efficacious manner possible against all acts of destruction, deterioration or 

 disfiguration due to the hand of man. 



PORTO RICO'S DESPOILED FORESTS 



The island of Porto Rico is very sparsely wooded. The insular and 

 geographical position of the country, its small size, its restricted area of 

 level lands, and its density of population, have occasioned unusual demands 

 on the forests. The same cycle of change is found here as is recorded by 

 civilisation everywhere — the waste and despoliation of the bounties of na- 

 ture, followed by an acute need for what has been destroyed. 



Of the once extensive virgin tropical forest there now remain only isolated 

 remnants in the most mountainous and wind-swept parts of the island. 

 This tract has an aggregate acreage of between 35,000 and 40,000 acres and 

 includes several thousand acres of brushwood. The total area of high for- 

 est is scarcely 2 per cent, of the total land area. Part of these forests be- 

 longs to the Government. There are, besides, about 400,000 acres classi- 

 fied as "timber and brush lands" and a few thousand acres of mangrove 

 swamps. The total wooded area amounts to approximately 20 per cent, 

 of the total area of the country; but not more than 2-5 of this area is now 

 under forest capable of yielding a wood-product other than charcoal and 

 fuel wood. If now there be added the 168,000 acres in coffee plantations 

 and the 6,500 acres under coconut palms, the total of all lands under forest 

 or brush cover will amount to 27 per cent, of the island. 



THE FRENCH MARKET FOR CANADIAN TIMBER 



France consumes, every year, an enormous cjuantity of all classes of 

 lumber products that Canada can furnish In 1912 French imports in 

 sawn timber and lumber, from countries subject to the same customs tariff 

 as Canada were valued at 200,000,000 francs; in 1913 the amount was even 

 greater. After the war, this demand will increase prodigiously on account 

 of the necessity of building temporary shelters and of re-building destroyed 

 property. It must be remembered that France has retaken from the enemy 

 753 towns (communes; containing 16,669 houses that must be completely 

 reconstructed and 29,584 that need repairs; it must also be borne in mind 

 that there are now 247 towns on the firing line and 2,554 towns at present 

 occupied by the enemy. This referred to conditions in July, 1916. 



In considering the question whether Canada can successfully compete 

 for this trade, it is important to note that she has one incontestable advan- 

 tage over the United States in enjoying the min mum tariff on manufactured 

 wood, while they pay general tariff. The present supplies are received 

 mostly from United States, Russia, Scandinavia, Switzerland and some 

 through England, but none of these countries have any preference over 

 Canada in custom duties. 



