72 NEW BRUNSWICK FORESTRY CONVENTION 



do so upon paying in advance a price fixed by the forest service, and engaging 

 to pay the amount set by the highest bid. In this way delay is avoided, 

 and a company may begin to cut in a few days after making the application. 

 Speculation is prevented by a provision requiring that timber be removed 

 within a certain time, and when a contract extends over a number of years a 

 proportionate amount of timber roust be removed each year. No contract is 

 made for a longer period than five years. 



All timber is cut according to regulations laid down by the forest ser- 

 vice after study made on the spot by technical assistants, and in no case are 

 these regulations so onerous as to cause any hesitation en the part of the 

 lumbermen. Since this system of timber sales has been introduced the 

 number of licenses granted and quantity of timber cut has been greatly in- 

 creased, and the forest has been left in much better condition by its re- 

 moval. 



A well-known case is that of the Minnesota reserve, where five percent, 

 of the pine were left standing for seed trees, and the brush was all burned. 

 This measure was introduced in the face of much opposition, but has since 

 proved feasible, and has exploded the fallacy that pine will not grow on the 

 same ground twice. In this instance, as in all others, the object has been to 

 remove the mature timber and to accomplish reforestation by natural 

 means. The brush from 125,000,000 feet of red and white pine was burned 

 at a cost running from 15 cents to 25 cents per thousand feet. This 

 expense approximates that incurred by the employment of an extra swamper 

 for each cutting crew, and the piling facilitates operations by permitting the 

 teams to move around more easily. The ground covered by the fire in burn- 

 ing the brush in no case exceeded 2 to 7 per cent, of the total area. It is ex- 

 pected from the results of this experiment thab as soon as the habits of dif- 

 ferent species are fully known and understood such scheme may be introduced 

 in lumbering so that a new stand of any desired species may be secured by 

 natural reproduction, and that actual tree planting will play a very small part 

 in the business of forestry. Where necessary, however, on reserves which 

 either have not enough timber or which are covered with undesirable species 

 . nurseries are being established under the care of the local rangers and plant- 

 ing is being gradually done under the direction of the supervisors. 



The relation of the lumbermen to the reserve then, is this they buy it 

 at prices practically set by themselves, they cut it as usual, except that all 

 trees to be cut are marked for cutting, and that they leave a few trees for 



