CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION 59 



be absolutely impossible that have become suddenly possible because a new 

 interest has been taken in them. I hold here but I will not inflict it upon 

 you now the statement of a logging-boss I know very well; no man of 

 theories, but a man who has done good work in the logging camp, and who 

 now, fortunately for the United States, has become the Lumberman of their 

 Forest Service, and under whose direction all the practical measures are being 

 carried out. In this little paper, which he himself prepared because, 

 although he is merely a practical logger he has learned the art of expressing 

 his ideas in the most marvellous degree he gives the experience of the burn- 

 ing of brush in the Minnesota Forest Reserve. Now, that was one of the 

 things that this forester proposed doing 20 years ago, but it was resisted as 

 being "unpractical, too expensive, and perfectly useless." Nevertheless it 

 is now being done in the Minnesota Forest Reserve with the greatest success 

 and with great satisfaction to the contractors who are forced to do it, and 

 with great benefit to the young growth. This hard-headed practical man 

 points out that it has been done, and therefore can be done, and at small cost. 

 But he also points out that it would be perfect folly to propose a general rule 

 of that description ; that each case must be treated separately. Each case is 

 a problem in itself and must be considered by some competent person who 

 may be the logging boss. It is not necessary to have graduates of forestry. 

 Many of those practical men are much better woodsmen, and we propose to 

 substitute our young foresters for those practical men; but I wish to point 

 out that there is a possibility of progress even where the path seems closed. 

 That is the thought that the paper has produced in me that after all per- 

 haps there is still the possibility of changes for the better ; even though they 

 cannot be easily made or will require time. For instance, these forest sur- 

 veys that have been talked about cannot be made in a short time, and very 

 often it will be wise to leave them alone. It would be impracticable to go 

 into the vast north pulpwood country and spend any money on it ; it would 

 be bad financing. Yet a beginning could be made to change the method, and 

 I believe it can be made, and will be made in time. (Applause.) 



Mr. WHITE : I am very much pleased with the remarks made by Pro- 

 fessor Fernow. There are just two points to which I would like to refer. In 

 the first place he said that 24 billions of feet was a very small quantity, and 

 just about half the annual consumption of the United States. Now, I came 

 here to tell this audience whkt I think we have upon the lands of the Crown ; 

 and whether it is 5 billions or 100 billions does not make any difference to 

 me. I am endeavoring to state what I believe to be the truth. I am not mag- 

 nifying it for a purpose. If I had said 100 billions perhaps I should have 

 pleased Professor Fernow better, but I could not do that. Then he entirely 

 misunderstood me if he thought I said there could be no improvement in what 

 we were doing. I did not say anything of the kind. I said, with respect to 

 the fire-ranging, what could we do ? We put the number of men on the terri- 

 tory that we thought could protect it; we supplied them with all the informa- 

 tion; we had overseers over them, and everything we could do in that way we 



