CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION 43 



Last year our President referred to the export of Christmas trees and 

 suggested that it should be prohibited. In New Brunswick many of the 

 farmers export small spruce and balsam from their own land and I presume 

 it is the same in the Province of Quebec. 



From one of our New Brunswick papers I quote the following : 



Hopewell Hill, Nov. 16. "The parties who have been buying up Christ- 

 mas trees for the American market are loading their cars this week at River- 

 side, and will start the trees as soon as possible on the long run to Pennsyl- 

 vania, where on Christmas Eve they will be loaded with Santa's gifts to Uncle 

 Sam's youngsters or to those of them at least who are able to afford the luxury 

 of a real Christmas tree. And the price is quite considerable, the trees sell- 

 ing in the American towns for as high as $10,00 apiece. A quite common 

 price is |5.00 and few bring less than $2.00. The price paid here is one cent 

 a bunch, standing, from one to five or more trees making a bunch. Fir trees 

 are selected and range from six to ten feet in height. It is expected to ship 

 ten carloads from here, each car carrying about 1,500 trees. The parties 

 expected to send away about 90 carloads in all, but they think it doubtful if 

 they can secure that many." 



The question that arises in my mind, is why should we prohibit the 

 export of small trees and allow those of a larger size to go out of the country 

 -instead of manufacturing them into pulp and paper here and thus leave 

 hundreds of thousands of dollars in the hands of our own people, and why 

 should we permit the cutting of small logs on the public domain if they 

 would grow larger? 



In New Brunswick this is a live question, and our forest preservation 

 depends upon a proper solution of it. The seriousness of the situation is 

 indicated by the following extract from an editorial in the St. John's "Sun" : 



"THE POLICY FOE NEW BBUNSWICK. It is a pleasant custom of 

 people in heavily wooded 'countries, like New Brunswick, to think and speak 

 of their timber wealth as inexhaustible. As a matter of fact the accessible 

 timber lands of this Province are about seven million acres in extent. Allow- 

 ing a fair average of 2,000 feet per acre, this means that New Brunswick 

 owns to-day about fourteen billion feet of merchantable timber. 



"In the United States, in 1906, the total cut of sizeable material was 

 about forty billion feet, so that the whole of our forest areas would only serve 

 the present demand of the United States for about four months." 



This question has been discussed at Board of Trade meetings, Manufac- 

 turers' Association meetings, and by the Lumbermen, who met at the call 

 of the New Brunswick Government in February, 1907, and passed an almost 

 unanimous resolution, favouring the prohibition of the export of pulpwood 

 from Canada. 



I do not intend discussing it now, nor do I think a resolution on the 

 subject would be advisable in our Association, unless it would be one asking 

 the Dominion Government to give this subject serious consideration. 



