58 CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION 



if we preserve it, two or three dollars a cord, for when railway construc- 

 tion goes in there we shall no doubt be able to sell enough to make the total 

 I have given you. But whether that be so or not, I am estimating the pre- 

 sent value. I am not able to say whether it will be wasted or destroyed. I 

 am speaking of the present moment. 



Dr. B. E. FETING w : I would like to express my gratification at having 

 heard this paper, containing such clear statements of the fiscal condition of 

 the property of this Province. Thirty years' supply and 30 years of income 

 tolerably well assured is a very satisfactory condition, from a fiscal point of 

 view, but I wish to point out that 30 years hence there may be some people 

 living in this Province who would like to participate in this great resource ; 

 and I would also like to point out that 24 billion feet sounds a very large 

 amount, but it would be just about enough to supply for one-half year the 

 requirements of our neighbors to the south. 



Mr. LITTLE: Hear, hear. 



Dr. FERNOW : I am perfectly agreed with Mr. White that it is almost 

 useless to talk about the increment. We heard some statements this morning 

 that I should like to discuss, as to a five per cent, increment on the stock on 

 hand in New Brunswick. Being somewhat familiar with figures of that 

 nature in the Old Country, where Forestry has been practised, I should say 

 that if one-half of it occurred we would say, "These forests do not need 

 any better management." Two and a half per cent, increment for stock that 

 is to be cut would be a very high percentage. You may find ten per cent, 

 during the life time of a forest acre, between 20 and 30 years, or between 15 

 and 25, but it would gradually reduce until at the age of 80 to 100, when 

 timber really becomes ripe in this country, it would have fallen to two, or 

 two and a half per cent, if well managed and we know well enough that 

 our woods are not well managed for the future ; from the standpoint of the 

 forester. So that while fiscally there is still a hopeful situation, from the 

 standpoint of this Association it is almost hopeless; especially as Mr. White 

 argues that all that can be done has been and is being done. I think if that 

 really were the case we should shut up ; there would not be any more progress 

 possible. But there may perhaps be some improvements possible even in the 

 good arrangements which now exist. I will not venture to propose any, but 

 only throw out the general statement that it is quite intelligible to us that 

 theorizing about a proposition and putting into practice some measure of relief 

 are two very different things. (Hear, hear.) I think that even a thorough going 

 theorist will agree with this that while this theory is only an ideal which 

 ought to be followed and realized as far as possible, the practical question 

 is not so easily solved as it sounds and looks on paper. Some of us theorists 

 have been listening to these propositions of the so-called practical men, or 

 the objects of the so-called practical men, for the last quarter of a century; 

 yet certain things are coming into the world that were formerly supposed to 



