CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION 111 



formations of nearly 40,000 acres with a lot of second-growth pine coming 

 up on parts of it, and much of it does not require reforestation. 



In Simcoe County we have the Pine Plains, taking in a part of three 

 townships. Over this area there are many scrubby redpines, and a large 

 portion of the area presents a problem, not of tree planting, but of fire pro- 

 tection. If we could protect that waste area from fire we would get a good 

 second growth of red pine. Over three or four parts of it the fires sweep 

 periodically and kill all the little stuff which the people do not see ; they only 

 see the saw logs, not the potential saw logs. 



The watershed between the Kawartha Lakes on one side and Lake 

 Ontario on the other, consists chiefly of waste sand land. There are two 

 blocks now where we could plant 15,000 acres without interfering with settle- 

 ment. These lands are totally unfit for agriculture. 



It is generally admitted, that these waste lands can be made perma- 

 nently productive only by being managed for forest crops. The only solu- 

 tion of the problem is in a policy which has as its aim the gradual segrega- 

 tion of these lands, to be managed as Provincial forests. 



A modest beginning has been made. We started in Norfolk County. 

 Our nursery work has been moved from Guelph to Norfolk, and we have 

 adopted the policy of buying back the waste sand areas in this county. 



Large portions, in the waste districts, were not entirely cleared but at 

 present are covered with a scrubby, second growth. In the Norfolk County 

 area Scrub Oak with scattering, second growth White Pine forms the soil 

 cover. In the Simcoe area a small amount of Scrub Oak, Poplar, etc., with 

 scrubby Red Pine is the type. Continual ground fires sweep over and kill 

 out the young Pine. With fire protection, there is much of this so called 

 waste land, which would soon fill with Pine, through natural seeding. 



On the land which has been cleared for farming, or where no seed 

 trees of valuable species exist, replanting will have to be done to obtain 

 new growth of desirable species. 



We hear men speak about nature allowing for the new growth. No one 

 will reasonably say that we can get miracles of that kind. We have to have 

 the seed itself to get the new growth ; so I claim on those cleared lands we 

 will have to plant. Two things are taken for granted : First, fire protection; 

 second, where there is no possibility of natural seeding. 



In this discussion I wish to point out the possibility of reforesting, at 

 a profit, rather than to deal with the cultural methods of replanting. It 

 must be admitted, that it is quite possible to artificially reproduce forests, 

 this having long been done in many parts of the world. Nature acts much 

 the same in Canada as in other regions. 



