88 CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION 



and down merchantable timber, and by leaving only small tops and branches in 

 the woods. 







PLANTING. 



Some scheme of artificial regeneration seems necessary in New Brunswick 

 only over large burns or abandoned settlements. Small cleared areas with a few 

 seed trees in the neighborhood will soon re-stock themselves naturally. Coniferous 

 growth, however, advances very slowly over large clearings, and owing to its scatter- 

 ing distribution, will produce a very poor class of lumber. In such cases planting 

 up seems essential to a proper economy of resources. As yet, lumbermen are hard- 

 ly in a position to consider this matter seriously. There seems to be vey little 

 inducement for private interests to sink capital in such a venture. Well timbered 

 areas can be bought in New Brunswick for very much less per acre than it will 

 cost to plant up old burns. It is quite probable again that fire would sweep away 

 the growing stock before it reaches maturity. Moreover, accurate information 

 seems to be lacking in New Brunswick on the most suitable species for use under 

 the conditions which exist there, the best system of planting and the probable 

 cost of the undertaking. These objections, combined with the time element and 

 the absence of a perpetual lease on Crown Lands would seem to place this branch of 

 forestry beyond the reach of the lumberman. 



In view of these considerations, and in view of the fait that such work is 

 mainly for the benefit of posterity, it would seem that it must inevitably fall to the 

 Government for some years to come, if it is to be undertaken at all. 



FOREST RESERVES. 



The necessity for an exhaustive survey of Crown lands and the establishment 

 of forest reserves is well known and need not be dwelt upon. 



Settlement over main drainage areas should be very carefully regulated, and 

 should be prohibited altogether on absolute forest soil. Settlers on non-agri- 

 cultural lands find their way there either through ignorance or for speculative 

 purposes, and in either case no good will result from their presence. 



Special regulations to control cutting on forest reserves however, are seldom 

 necessary where the operators are practising conservative methods of lumbering. 

 It is probable that a small woody growth over a drainage area will maintain an even 

 stream flow equally well with a high forest. The small growth shades the ground, 

 its root system holds the soil together, and prevents erosion, and an equal facility 

 for subsoil drainage is afforded. If each type of growth receives the treatment 

 best adapted to produce the greatest amount of timber in the long run, the stream 

 flow will regulate itself naturally and satisfactorily. Fires and the settlers are the 

 prime causes of soil erosion and spring floods, not the lumberman. 



The system of forestry, if it can be called a system, which has been outlined 

 in this paper, is substatially that of the company I represent. It is far from 

 approaching any European ideal of forest management, but it seems to get results 

 and at practically no cost over old logging methods. A great deal of material 

 which was formerly wasted is now utilized while a perpetual rotation of wood crops 

 affording a substantial annual supply is practically assured so long as fires are 

 avoided. 



It may be safely stated that the holdings of the Miramichi Lumber Company 

 have increased in value from 50% to 100% since that company began the applica- 



