160 NEW BRUNSWICK FORESTRY CONVENTION 



possible. Therefore venture to embody some of my viewa in a. letter, which 

 you are at liberty to use in any manner you see fit. 



In the first instance, allow me to state that personally, as well as for 

 the interests of the company with which I am connected, I am deeply inter- 

 ested in the subject of Forestry, which has had my very close attention for 

 the past fourteen years. First as Forest Commissioner of the State of Maine 

 and later as manager of quite extensive wild lands. 



The methods in vogue in foreign countries, as well as all of the data 

 published by the Forestry schools in this country and by the National De- 

 partment of Forestry in Washington. I have followed closely and while many 

 valuable points are to be gathered, I regret to say that experience teaches 

 me that the bulk of it is not applicable to Maine, or to New Brunswick, 

 where conditions are very similar at the present time. In order to make 

 myself fully understood, allow me to state that my experience teaches me 

 that we have not as yet reached the period in deforestation, or in exhausting 

 our forest products, where it is possible, from a financial standpoint, to 

 adopt, except in a very small way, the scientific Forestry, as practiced in 

 France and Germany. In fact, I will go further and state that I do not think 

 ^t a practical proposition for any one individual or corporation to adopt 

 scientific Forestry for a number of generations yet to come. My reason for 

 so believing, I will frankly admit, is wholly from a mercenary standpoint. 

 In other words, every individual, company or corporation owning timberlands 

 is looking for a reasonable return from the money invested in the way of 

 annual dividends ; and these are not possible, except after a long series of 

 years, from the practice of scientific Forestry. Revenues from tree seeding 

 or. planting, or benefits derived from tree pruning, can only be obtained after 

 a long series of years, and considering the fact that mature tree growth, 

 suitable for present cutting, can be bought in the open market at prices 

 ranging from $2.00 to $5.00 per acre, according to location, and that the 

 cost of raising and growing timberland by tree planting would be from $50.00 

 to $150.00 per acre, it requires no argument to demonstrate my proposition 

 that no individual can afford, from a financial standpoint, to seriously con- 

 sider its feasibility. If, therefore, scientific Forestry is to be adopted, it can 

 only be done by governments, just as long as our forest products remain at 

 prices anything like those at present. Governments must anticipate the 

 future and prepare, as far as possible to do so, for generations to come after 

 us, by anticipating their needs, but this is not expected from individuals. 

 Yetj even with governments, conservatism must be shown with reference to 



