CANADIAN FOEESTKY ASSOCIATION. 79 



suits justify the outlay. In my opinion, it would be a good investment. 

 These tree tops block the forest in a great measure for any one traversing 

 the choppings; they get into a most inflammable condition, and if fire starts 

 amongst them, it is very difficult for the men to get about and do effective 

 work. Rangers should be supplied with plans of their territories, and 

 should keep adding local indications to them. These plans could be re- 

 newed every year until perfection was attained, and would be invaluable to 

 the rangers, to say nothing of what they would mean to their employers. 



What a contrast there is between our East and West. In the Maritime 

 Provinces, Quebec and Ontario, the settler busies himself burning up timber 

 in his clearing that the man in the West would give a good deal of money 

 for. In the West every one is ready and willing to purchase seedlings to 

 try to induce forest growth on his farm, for domestic use, for windbreaks, 

 for the accumulation of snow in winter, to prevent the frost striking too 

 deep and for ornamental purposes. I understand that the supply has never 

 been sufficient to meet the demand. 



We have in Quebec 175,000 square miles of Forest Reserves. This is 

 an admirable shewing, and it was my privilege to assist materially in hav- 

 ing these reserves created. I trust sincerely that the Government will for- 

 ever maintain them in their integrity. If it does, we need not fear for pos- 

 terity. Quebec has a certain amount of good arable land, but, taking it all 

 in all, is essentially a spruce producing country. Our rivers are quick run- 

 ning, not sluggish. On the north shore of the St. Lawrence, many of the 

 streams are torrential in character. Common sense alone tells us that 

 under such conditions, a very much larger percentage of forest reserve is 

 necessary than if our streams were slow-running. 



We have, I regret to have to say, instances of forest denudation to too 

 great an extent in Quebec. That part of the Province south and north- 

 east of Montreal (the Eastern Townships) to-day feels the want of 

 forests. Mills on some of the large streams have been obliged to put up 

 auxiliary steam plants, while others are unable to work to full capacity in 

 midsummer. Water has become a rather scarce article, and in some places 

 has to be carted from a distance to water cattle. The fuel question con- 

 fronts the residents in these localities. Such a state of affairs should never 

 have been allowed to become a possibility* 



I have not gone deeply into details, as to do so would largely confine 

 my remarks to conditions in my own Province and cause them to be some- 

 what inapplicable to others; I have therefore tried to treat the subject in 

 a broad way. In conclusion I would say, let us protect the forests in every 

 feasible and practical manner, and then we will have water power, the lum- 

 ber, trade, profitable agriculture, fish and game; if we fail to do so, we can 

 only look for, and expect, a serious shinkage in the value of all these na- 

 tional assets, and, possibly, extinction of some of them. Let us hope that 

 such a state of affairs will never obtain in any of the fair Provinces of this 

 great Dominion. 



