CANADIAN FOBESTEY ASSOCIATION. 19 



of the different Provinces of Canada, and having arrived at an intelligent 

 understanding of the whole situation, formulate a definite scheme for fire 

 protection which could be presented to the Governments of the different 

 Provinces, and which would, no doubt, be assured of general adoption by 

 them. There is little doubt as to the willingness of our Legislatures to 

 act in such matters if there is a satisfactory assurance that the action is the 

 best possible and in the general public interest. 



2. Technical associations for the presentation of research papers 

 exist in Germany, but are scarcely feasible in Canada at the present state 

 of advance in forest policy. Such conferences of forestry teachers as that 

 recently organized by Dr. Pinchot at Washington show a movement in 

 this direction. Our teachers can doubtless act with those of the United 

 States in promoting such conferences. This is doubtless the first step in 

 the formation of such technical associations as exist in Germany. In 

 Canada some general technical work is being carried on in connection with 

 the forest reserves. The name "Reserve" should not imply that such areas 

 are entirely reserved to the extent that cutting thereon is prohibited. To 

 bury our treasure is not to use it economically, but to wantonly misuse it. 

 These reserves should be experiment stations where, under expert super- 

 vision, extensive researches in silviculture and forest management would 

 be carried on. This to some extent is already being done, but there is 

 need that it can be done on a much larger and broader scale. For example, 

 regulations regarding the disposal of waste material in such a way as to 

 prevent fires and to favor reproduction should first be worked out care- 

 fully at some experiment station under government supervision. Such regu- 

 lations should then be made as general as thorough investigation has shown 

 to be entirely practicable. Other fields of investigation readily suggest 

 themselves. The preservation of timber in exposed situations bridges, 

 trestles, railway ties is an exceedingly important subject from the Cana- 

 dian standpoint. So also the influence of the forests on climate, methods 

 of preventing the depredations of injurious insects, etc. These questions 

 should be all thoroughly investigated experimentally under the direction of 

 some central authority, say the Dominion Forestry Branch at Ottawa. 



3. Canada has made a fair begining in the training of young men for 

 forestry service. In 1907 the University of Toronto organized a Depart- 

 ment of Forestry under the headship of Dr. B. E. Fernow, one of the most 

 eminent students of forestry on this continent. In 1908, a Professorship ot 

 Forestry was established at the University of New Brunswick. I believe 

 that both of these institutions are doing good work in their respective 

 fields and will exercise no doubt a considerable influence on the forest 

 policy of the future. So far in Canada there has been no separate school 

 of forestry, the beginning being made as in most countries bv the establish- 

 ment of University Departments. We saw in passing that the relative 

 merits of these two plans have been well argued in Germany and else- 

 where, with the preponderance of opinion more or less in favor of the 

 University. The arguments in favor of University affiliation are, among 

 other things, the advantage of mutual association among .men looking 

 toward different professions and pursuing different courses of study, the 

 tendency toward better prepared and more mature men, better equipped 



