Cdiuididn Forcslri/ Joiirndl, December, 1U17 



1431 



plies the peasants and newly arrived over the forest lands which hitherto 



immigrants with buildini^ materials 



and other wood products which they 



require. Althoui^h the future position 



is uncertain, it is probable that the 



Colonization Department will take 



have been under the control of the Im- 

 perial Cabinet. Little has been done 

 up to the present for the exploitation 

 of the timber wealth of these 

 lands. 



Forest Strength and Fighting Strength 



By Dr. J. W. Toumey, Dean of Yale 

 Forest School 



The strength of Germany in the 

 - present war has to a large measure 

 been due to her vast reserves of for- 

 est capital. If France had not had 

 a forest capital adequate to supply 

 the numerous needs of her vast arm- 

 ies, the powers of central Europe 

 would be in Paris to-day. 



Forests For Defence 

 The world has discovered in this 

 war that forests are necessary for 

 national defence as well as necessary 

 for industrial development and pro- 

 gress. 



No country in its progress from 

 barbarism and primitive needs to 

 culture and industrial development, 

 has been able to maintain its forests 

 in a productive condition without 

 organized effort and the execution 

 of extensive plans for reforestation. 



Time To Begin Is Now 

 Although the immediate future 

 supply of wood in this country is 

 secure without giving special atten- 



- tion to reforestation, it is inevitable 

 that it will be deficient both in quality 

 and amount, if we do not, as a nation 

 and as individuals, give more atten- 

 tion now to reforestation and im- 

 provement of second growth. One 

 hundred years hence we do not want 

 to say as England is now saying: 



« "Our idle lands must no longer be 

 left unproductive. We must secure 

 that area of home woods which pre- 

 sent day necessities make necessary, 

 which the utilization of our national 

 resources and thrift in all depart- 

 ments of life demand and which our 

 posterity is likely to sorely need." 

 We, the United States, do not want to 

 write these words a hundred years 



hence. We need not if we begin 

 now to work for the orderly develop- 

 ment of the second growth, if we have 

 foresight and sense enough now to 

 plan for the kinds and amounts of 

 timber that we are to cut fifty, seven- 

 ty-five and a hundred years from now. 

 Must Plan Long in Advance 

 The protection and development 

 of the second growth ought to be a 

 prominent question in national, state, 

 and communal councils to-day, while 

 we have abundance of wood. A crop 

 that requires from seventy-five to a 

 hundred and twenty-five years to 

 reach economic maturity, must be 

 planned for long in advance. 



1 MAHOGANY CANOES FOR I 

 i CANADIAN CAMPAIGNERS 1 



I Major John S. Leitch, one of I 



I the fire rangers of the Dominion J 



I Forestry Branch in Manitoba, 



I who has been overseas from the 



I beginning of the war with the 



1 Royal Fusiliers in British East 



I Africa, writes as follows — 

 1 "Out in the tropics the major- 



I ity of rivers can be crossed by a 



j standing jump as it were. Rivers 



j such as Canada has are a great 



1 surprise to the tropical man. 



I What canoes are here are dug- 



I outs made by natives out of 



I solid mahogany or teak trees. 



j They take months to make and 



I are very heavy. I have yet tc 



1 see the first African making a 



I portage with his canoe on his 



I iDack. Some of these canoes are 



I big enough to take 60 men or 



j 3 ^2 tons of stores." 



