78 CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION 



sideration, although here, too, it would have been better if the denudation 

 of absolute forest soils had been prevented, so that the laudable effort of the 

 Ontario government of buying up and reforesting waste lands would have 

 been unnecessary. But, as settlement progresses into the true forest region, 

 which is destined to the largest extent to remain in forest, a more definite 

 policy of disposal becomes necessary. It is true there are some restrictions 

 placed on settlement by the governments, at least in Ontario, by which a 

 township is excluded from farm settlement unless a certain percentage can 

 be shown to be farm soil. Aside from the somewhat doubtful method, by 

 which this percentage is determined, there is, from the standpoint of a 

 proper forest policy, an important point overlooked, namely, the propriety 

 of making a difference in the exploitation of the timber on these two parts. 

 It is evident that on those portions which are destined to eventually become 

 farms, the timber may be cut without any reference to the future, while on 

 those portions which are destined to remain in forest, the policy should be 

 to direct the cutting in such a way as to insure the persistence i.e., the 

 reproduction of 'the valuable forest growth, especially by keeping the fire 

 out. 



And here we come to our third and most fundamental want, efficient 

 protection against forest fires without which all other propositions and the 

 practice of forestry are futile. 



This requirement, to be sure, is generally recognized as self-evident 

 not less by the governments than by all citizens, except the ignorant, care- 

 less and criminally irresponsible ones. 



But, although governments have undertaken to check this greatest 

 evil, the extent of which may be properly made a measure of the civilization 

 of a community, we cannot but think that they have done so without ade- 

 quate conception of the difficulty or importance of the undertaking, nor 

 indeed in the attitude which we have outlined, of regard for the future. 

 This lack of proper attitude is most characteristically exhibited by the 

 report of what an official in charge is said to have remarked regarding the 

 forest fires of the past season, namely, that they had done no damage for they 

 had mainly run through slash. It is here that the future lies ! The old 

 timber is mostly not damaged beyond usefulness by any single fire, but 

 the young growth, the promise of the future, is surely killed, and it is the 

 repeated fires running through the slash that makes the deserts. 



To make fire protection effective in the Provinces, there is lacking 

 first, the proper attitude, next the organization, next the men and adequate 

 expenditure, and lastly, proper morality among the people at large. 



Here we may find fault with ourselves for not more persistently and 

 assiduously employing all the educational means possible to instruct the 

 public, and to keep the matter stirred up by public prints and circulars, 

 public addresses from lecture platforms and in schools, and by private talks. 



Especially those, who living in the endless woods are cut off from a 

 perspective and cannot realize that "a few acres more or less of this useless 

 slash burned" may have serious consequences, need to be educated. The 

 public conscience must be aroused more persistently. 



The government really is helpless in the attempt to check the evil if 

 not supported by active co-operation of the whole people. As the apostle 

 St. John, at the end of his life had recognized and always preached the one 

 doctrine, that all Christian virtues may be expressed in one brotherly 

 love, so every forester must recognize and preach the one thing which is 

 fundamental to all his endeavours, eradication of the fire fiend. 



