CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 99 



scantlings, deal ends, etc. This also makes a market for the tops of our 

 trees, and in the past ten years I do not think that there are very many lum- 

 bermen in the Province of New Brunswick who have not been running up 

 their trees to 8 inches at the top end. But, although this has been of con- 

 siderable benefit to the Province in making a market for the tops of trees, 

 it has had a tendency to make a sale for the small sized trees. It has 

 also had a tendency to reduce the size of timber cut in the woods. In fact, 

 for a number of years past logs have been cut down as low as 16 feet long 

 by 9 inches in diameter at the top, and of recent years even our saw mill 

 men have asked for permits from the Government to cut lumber even 

 much smaller than this, down as low as 12 inches at the butt. These per- 

 mits have been granted from time to time on thicket growth and scrubby 

 heath growth, which does not seem to make any yearly increase in size, but 

 it is a moot question whether or not the operators to whom these permits 

 have been given have not abused the privilege in a great many cases. 1 am 

 led to believe that the Government is considering whether it would be ad- 

 visable to issue permits of this nature another year; unless an arrangement 

 can be made to have an inspector appointed for each operation, such in- 

 spector to be appointed by the Government and paid for by the operator. 

 I might say that the Government is taking steps to inspect the lands in re- 

 gard to which these permits have been given, to see how the operators are 

 conforming to the regulations, and what effect this principle of granting 

 permits is going to have, generally. 



Nearly eighty per cent, of the southwestern and eastern portion of our 

 Province is covered largely with black spruce, pine, and fir. The question 

 is often asked, What age does a spruce tree have to be before it becomes a 

 merchantable log? This matter is governed entirely by the ground or soil 

 on which the black spruce and fir stand, just as in the case of any other crop. 

 To-day there are lumber operators cutting logs 22 inches in diameter on 

 the stump, where their fathers cut hay fifty years before, and it is known 

 in several cases that logs attain the size of 16 feet long and 9 inches in 

 diameter at the top in thirty-five years on these old farms. In our old for- 

 est growth logs 35 feet long and 8 inches at the top end would be from a 

 hundred to one hundred and fifty years old, but our second growth is very 

 much more rapid. After thinning out the old trees the saplings seem to 

 come along very much faster than the original growth. 



In the northeastern part of our Province, where the white spruce pre- 

 vails, we find a very much smaller yearly growth, and, in fact, there is a 

 general impression that where people are lumbering on the Restigouche 

 waters to-day, it will be doubtful if they will be able to find again a mer- 

 chantable log on that territory within fifty years. How much more care- 

 ful, therefore, should the operator be in this particular section, and how 

 very necessary it seems that all regulations governing the size of the cut- 

 ting in this growth should be strictly enforced. 



Another question that is asked is, What has become of this old original 

 growth? In the black spruce forests, where we used to get trees 35 to 50 feet 

 long and 8 inches at the top end, we are getting very much smaller logs 

 to-day, and this condition prevails even where there have been no opera- 



