110 CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION 



miles. It is safe to state that there is in old, agricultural Ontario, at least, 

 8,000,000 acres of private land which should be managed eventually for 

 forest crops. 



The potential value of eight million acres of woodland to Ontario is 

 worthy of notice. Estimating an annual, acreage increment of a half cord 

 of wood, at a stumpage value of $2.00, this land would represent an annual 

 resource of |8,000,000. 



We are apt to forget that these wood lands are profitable. In operating 

 farms, usually, books are not kept and the farmers do not know how much 

 value these wood lands have, but as a matter of fact a great deal of money 

 is taken off them in the form of fire wood, etc. 



History has proven that proper management of private woodlands is 

 not easily attained. Government assistance, in a problem of this nature, 

 is necessary and advisable. To meet this need the Department of Agricul- 

 ture has undertaken, to furnish forest trees for waste land planting, and 

 also to assist owners in the better management of their woodlands. At pre- 

 sent, planting material is sent out free of charge with certain provisions 

 for care and protection. (The conditions of this distribution are given in 

 a Circular which may be had upon application to the "Forestry Depart- 

 ment," Guelph.) This last season's distribution amounted to about 400,000 

 trees composed, of the following species : White Pine, Scotch Pine, Jack 

 Pine, Norway Spruce, White Ash, Black Locust and a small amount 

 of Catalpa, White Wood, Walnut, Butternut and Cedar. The larger pro- 

 portion of this material was planted on waste lands on the farm, although 

 a number of applicants used the material for planting in worn-out woodlots. 

 The Department especially urges farmers to plant Pine and Spruce about 

 the borders of woodlots in order to give more protection to the soil, this 

 lack of soil protection being one of the chief faults in the average woodland 

 of small acreage. 



A second forest problem confronting the Department of Agriculture 

 is the reclamation of the large, contiguous areas of non-agricultural soils 

 which exist in many parts of the Province. In the more settled parts of 

 Ontario the waste areas are sand formations. On these lands Pine was the 

 most valuable growth and it was cut off in the early days. In many cases 

 agricultural settlement followed, and where the land was cleared for farm- 

 ing purposes, it gave, at first, in many cases, good returns. As soon as the 

 vegetable mould or old, forest soil disappeared from the sand, it became a 

 difficult matter to keep up to fertility and gradually sand wastes developed. 



Some of the more important sand formations are as follows : Norfolk, 

 10,000 acres; Lambton, 40,000; Bruce, 30,000; Simcoe, 60,000; Northumber- 

 land and Durham, 15,000. 



' t It is interesting to know that this land in the County of Lambton is still 

 in the hands of the Canada Company. There is a large waste belt of sand 



