[Nova Scotia's Forestry Opportunities 



85 



The fact that the fertih- hinds oc- 

 cur iu pockets. fre(iueiitly in long, 

 narrow vaUeys. has l)i"ought ahout a 

 condition of things whicii exists 

 scarcely elsewhere in Canada. Many 

 of the farms have a narrow frontage 

 on the river in the valley, and extend 

 hack over the edge of the valley into 

 the hills heyonii. Often these fai'nis 

 are four or five miles long. The fer- 

 tile part is in the valley; the land in 

 the hills is ahsolute forest huul. Very 

 few farmers are content with the in- 

 come they ilerive from their fertile 

 acres in the valley. They have heen 

 accustomed to sujiplement this hy the 



sales of timher from the hills. This 

 was a particidarly satisfactory ar- 

 I'aiigement to them hecanse the wo!"k 

 in tile woods came in tiie winter, 

 when liiei-e was little work to do on 

 their farms. In some respects it is a 

 good way of handling timlx-r. The 

 ditVieulty is that the cutting has heen 

 cai-ried on without regard to the priii- 

 eii)les of reproduction. an<l now that 

 the faiiiiei-s are getting towai-d the 

 end of their timljer they realize that 

 they nuist either change their methods 

 or sutTer a serious decrease in income. 

 This is all the more exasperating as 

 thev realize that thev could secui'e 



View of avenue of Manitoba Maples at Dominion Experimental Farm at Indian Head, 

 Saskatchewan. When these trees wore planted scarcely anybody believed that 

 trees could be got to grow between Manitoba and the Rocky Mountains. Now 

 over twenty million trees sent out from the Dominion Forestry Branch Nursery 

 at Indian Head are growing about prairie hon^esteads. 



prices for their timher in the future 

 such as they never dreamed of in the 

 past. Nor is this merely an incident 

 in the general situation. When it is 

 realized that more than half the tim- 

 ber land of Nova Scotia is held in 

 these small blocks, running from two 

 hundred to one thousand acres, it will 

 be seen that when this problem is 

 settled more than half the difficulties 

 are met. In other provinces the pro- 



vincial government can improve mat- 

 ters l)y new i-egulations and by better 

 administration, but in Nova Scotia, 

 where so much of the timber land is 

 owned in fee simple, a great deal of 

 the work mu.st be done by educating 

 the owners. There can be no doubt, 

 too, that a great many of these men 

 are anxious to know what to do. so 

 that a forester who could go among 

 them and give the information would 



