CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 



DISCUSSION. 



Mr. Robert Connely congratulated Mr. Berry, and was sure that in 

 him the Province had a good man. He thought the Department had made 

 a wrong move in altering the dimensions of spruce that might be cut from a 

 1 6-foot log with 10-inch top to one with a 9-inch top. That was progress 

 in the wrong direction. Thirty-five years ago he had planted potatoes on 

 a piece of land, and last year he saw logs taken off it measuring 16 feet 

 and 10 inches at the top end. 



Dr. G. U. Hay, of St. John, asked if Mr. Berry did not mean red 

 spruce when he spoke of black. Red spruce was the timber of the Province. 

 Black spruce, otherwise called swamp spruce, was a small tree. Although 

 tall, it was not a timber tree. 



Professor Miller said there were three species of spruce in New Bruns- 

 wick, red, black, and white, but the lumbermen frequently called the two 

 former black spruce. The black spruce was a smaller tree than the red 

 spruce. 



The Chairman said that in Quebec there was a large amount of black 

 spruce swamp spruce. It grew to a great height, but he had never seen a 

 tree a foot in diameter. As a consequence, the Province of Quebec per- 

 mitted the cutting of black spruce smaller than white spruce. 



The Chairman went on to say that the Quebec regulations were much 

 better than those of Ontario, because Quebec permitted the lease to con- 

 tinue so long as the lessee conformed to the regulations. There was no 

 period of expiration, which was much in the interest of perpetuating the 

 forest. Unfortunately the regulations were not carried out. Improper 

 settling was being carried on to an enormous extent. In one case a settler 

 went into one of his (Senator Edwards) limits, and in making a potato 

 patch, which grew five bushels of potatoes, he burned over $3,000,000 

 worth of standing pine. That settler was not there the following year. 

 The pseudo settler's object was to cut the timber, but by reason of this fire 

 there was none to cut. He could take his hearers to places in Quebec 

 where there had been considerable settlement, that existed for the same pur- 

 pose, where not an individual was living at the present time. One of these 

 cases where $400,000 worth of timber had been destroyed was on limits 

 owned by Mr. W. C. J. Hall's family. Mr. Piche had said he was going 

 to remedy this, and he (Senator Edwards) was going to hold him to his 

 promise. 



Several in the audience informed the Chairman that improper settling 

 for the purpose of getting the timber without paying for it was not confined 

 to Quebec, but was only too common in New Brunswick. 



As Mr. Beveridge, of Chatham, N.B., did not arrive, his paper on 

 "Paper Making in New Brunswick," had to be deferred till some other oc- 

 casion. 



