46 CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION 



work up the material. This is partly due to the fact that during the winter months 

 the men with the training necessary to do work of this nature were required to do 

 the office work connected with the distribution of planting material in the prairie 

 provinces, and partly to their leaving the service almost as soon as the data collected 

 in the field were available for growth studies. It is hoped, however, that all the 

 material collected will soon be worked up and put in such a shape that we will 

 know definitely what the annual rate of increase is in the present wild, fire-scarred 

 timber of our western Forest Reserves. Not until we have full and definite informa- 

 tion regarding the location, the amount, the sylvicultural condition and the annual 

 rate of growth of the more important species, will we be in a position to devise satis- 

 factory rules and regulations governing the amount of the annual cut, to improve 

 the condition of these reserves and to keep them in perpetual forest for an ever 

 increasing population. 



THE ENORMOUS COST OF PLANTING. 



If you draw the attention of the " man in the street " to our rapidly diminishing 

 supplies of timber he will in nine cases out ten say, "Yes! that's so. Why the 

 Government ought to go to work and plant up the open spots." Let us examine 

 the practicability of such a scheme. With a large and well equipped nursery 

 for the growing of forest tree seedlings, and withlabour at $2.00 per dayit is possible 

 to reduce the cost of planting, five feet apart each way, to between $7.00 and $8.00 

 per acre. For sake of argument, let us assume that it can be done for $5.00 per 

 acre, or $3,200 per square mile. At this rate the planting of a township only six 

 miles square would require the enormous expenditure of $115,200. The "man 

 in the street" will do some pretty hard thinking before he will consent to pay his 

 share of the cost of such an undertaking, yet he will read in his morning paper that 

 thirty townships, or more than a thousand square miles of woodlands in northern 

 Alberta, Saskatchewan or Manitoba have been destroyed by fire, and scarcely give 

 the matter a passing thought. 



NEED FOR PROTECTION. 



Would it not be very much more to the purpose to take time by the forelock 

 and use the money required to plant up a single township for the maintenance of 

 an efficient fire ranging system, similar to the one already established in Ontario? 

 To my mind, the problem pressing hardest upon the Dominion Forest Service 

 for solution- is the protection of the western woodlands from fire. The new railways 

 being built through them and the settlement that will quickly follow will be a con- 

 stant source of danger, but if fire rangers who feel the responsibility of their posi- 

 tions, and possessing the necessary diligence, firmness and tact to faithfully perform 

 their duties and secure the co-operation of the settlers and the railway companies, 

 can be found and retained in the service, a great deal may be done to save invalu- 

 able forested areas from ruthless destruction. 



MORE RESERVES NEEDED. 







As far as I understand the situation, the second great problem pressing for 

 solution is, to secure definite information regarding the location, kind, condition, 

 and amount of timber which should be placed in forest reserves before it is encroach- 

 ed upon, and either partially or wholly destroyed by axe and fire. 



