CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION 69 



I 



GENERAL FORESTEY CONDITIONS AND FORESTRY EDUCATION 



IN NEW BRUNSWICK. 



PROFESSOR R. B. MILLER, M.A., M.F. 

 Department of Forestry, University of New Brunswick. 



The Surveyor-General having given you the information concerning the 

 Crown Timber Lands, their administration and protection and the advance 

 which has been made along forestry lines, it is my purpose to say something 

 about the climate, rainfall, topography and geology of the Province as they 

 influence tree growth and lumbering operations; and, incidentally, to say 

 something about the course in Forestry in the University of New Brunswick, 

 a subject with which I am more familiar. 



Having been in the Province but a short time, I lay no claim to exhaus- 

 tive knowledge of timber conditions and lumbering, but will give only some 

 of the points which have impressed me so far in my work. Fiiller and more 

 detailed information I hope to gain later bv a visit to its different districts 

 and the study of the many industries which the forester should know 

 thoroughly, and which form a part of the usual courses in lumbering given 

 in the Forestry Schools of the country. 



The Province of New Brunswick, with an area of about 27,500 square 

 miles, is so situated geographically that the moisture from the Gulf Streauu, 

 condensed by the cold Arctic current flowing into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 

 makes dense fogs which the southern highlands confine to the coast. Inland, 

 however, these same moisture-laden winds cause an abundant rainfall, for 

 the past 35 years averaging 43 inches, which is ample for the support of a 

 diverse and luxuriant tree growth. In the higher parts of the Province, the 

 snow, which lasts from November to May, is from five to six feet in depth, 

 and the annual range of temperature is between 95 degrees F. and 40 below 

 zero. The growing season, while seemingly short, is remarkable for its 

 rapidity, and with trees suited to the northern regions, the annual growth 

 is large and the wood added is of high technical value, making New Bruns- 

 wick white pine and spruce much sought for in the foreign markets. 



The topography of the Province is rough and uneven and the valleys 

 are intersected by many fine drivable streams, such as the various tributaries 

 to the St. John, the Restigouche, Miramichi and others, most of them 

 heading in the upper Silurian belt of rocks in the northwestern corner of the 

 Province. Bald Mountain, at the head of the Tobique, which is composed 

 of felsite, has an elevation of 2,700 feet, and is the highest point in the 

 Province. The many tributaries of the St. John afford a ready passage for 

 logs to the mills along it or to the City of St. John, which is the great export 

 center for deals and other manufactured products; while the Restigouche, 

 Miramichi, Nepisquit and others afford an easy outlet into the Gulf. 



According to Dr. L. W. Bailey, the eminent authority on the rocks 

 of the Province, the main geological formations are the Coal Basin, which 

 comprises about one-third of the Province, and lies as an immense triangls 

 with its base towards the Gulf of St. Lawrence and its apex at Oromocto 

 Lake. The rocks of this central coal basin lie nearly flat and .the drainage 

 is often imperfect, the shales on weathering, producing extensive bogs occu- 

 pied by blue-berry plains and barrens. They also produce extensive beds of 

 sand, clay and gravel, without lime, on which are spruce, larch, poplar, and 

 white birch. Formerly there was white pine, whose root system is best 



