CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION 119 



THE PRESIDENT : We don't cut them. We do without Christmas trees 

 very largely. 



Dr. MULFORD : I am sorry for you. (Laughter.) If a Forester can't 

 raise enough Christmas trees to use all that are required and not have it 

 felt, he is a pretty poor Forester (hear ! hear ! and laughter) and I don't 

 see that the trees can be put to any better use, anyway, than as Christmas 

 trees ; the more that are used the better. There have been various expressions 

 as to the value of planting. NQW, planting is all right ; I am not contradict- 

 ing Mr. Zavitz in the least, but planting has its limitations. I say all this 

 simply to emphasize this fact, that we feel across the imaginary line which 

 is only an imaginary line for Foresters, anyway (hear! hear!). 



SENATOR EDWARDS : And for free traders 



Dr. MULFORD : Exactly 



Mr. LITTLE : There are not many of them 



Dr. MULFORD : We feel that while we are on the top of this wave we want 

 to drive home these vital points, and not little things like Christmas trees, 

 which are only drops in the bucket. Perhaps I could illustrate by sum- 

 marizing some things I had the good fortune, to see last summer, in a trip 

 through New Mexico, Idaho and Montana, what Uncle Sam is doing 

 with the forests. Fire you all know about that. In the old days, when 

 those reserves were under the Land Office, at least three per cent, of the 

 timbered area was burned over each year. That is a very, very conservative 

 estimate; to-day not one-tenth of one per cent. In only four years the injury 

 has been reduced to one-thirtieth of what it was under the old Land Office 

 administration. And yet only a beginning has been made. We are going 

 to do far better than that in the immediate future. (Hear! hear!) Next, in 

 regard to taxation; taxation equitable to the private owner; taxation of 

 national and State forests which shall not make the establishment of those 

 forests a hardship on the communities where they are located. Uncle Sam 

 turns over ten per cent, of all gross receipts from sales of timber from the 

 National Forests to the counties in which the national forests are located 

 under certain restrictions, of course. Thirdly, a thing which some people 

 think could be done in other parts of the continent, is what we are after 

 methods of cutting timber which shall assist Nature in her work of repro- 

 ducing the forests, so that we may not have to resort to the very expensive 

 methods of forest planting In other words, instead of telling the lumber- 

 man, "Go in and cut all you want to and we will look after the rest" which 

 usually leads to disastrous results Uncle Sam says to the lumberman, "If 

 you want timber from my domain I will mark the trees that you may cut. 

 If you are satisfied to lumber those trees and no other, well and good; if 

 not, you can go without lumber." This timber is more important for the 



