Destruction by Fire and Wind* 



Results of Bad Fin s in the Lake of the Woods Coiinfrtj. 



Mr. ^I. J. SteveiiKOii, of Morris, Mani- 

 toba, writes: 



' I have lately retunied from an explor- 

 ing trip in the forests of ^Yesteru New On- 

 tario, northern Minnesota and southeastern 

 Manitoba, and I must say the destruction 

 on all sides by forest fires is appalling. 

 Mile after mile was traversed of what had 

 once been virgin forests, but through the 

 agency of this scourge of the \\oods they 

 have been converted into a desolation of 

 charred and wind-thrown trees. 



' It was the same story in each of the 

 ]irovinces, thousands of acres of the finest 

 timber turned out by the roots by the wiml 

 and lying rotting on the ground. This 

 tiiul)er, every stick of it, is badly needed 

 in oui' })rairie ])rovincos adjacent thereto. 

 It took hundreds of years to grow and is 

 swejit out of existence in a few moments 

 of time. As a great deal of this land on 

 which the tindjer has been burned is totally 

 unfit for agriculture, and as the fires have 

 been so severe that there are practically no 

 seed trees left over vast areas, the national 

 loss is the more ajiparent. 



'T have in mind a splendid forest of 

 jack pine in eastern Manitoba that was 

 killed by fire in 1888. These trees were a 

 pure mature stand, growing on non-agricul- 

 tural land and were from eight to twenty 

 inches in diameter, and from eighty to one 

 hun(b-ed feet high. This forest has been 

 burned twice since. The last fire caught the 

 young trees before they were old enough 

 to bear seed, and to-day the site of this 

 once sjjlendid forest is a sand desert. 



Now this is occurring on millions of acres 

 in Canada to-day; land that is too stony 

 or sandy to ever be of any use for agri- 

 culture. It seems to me this is a verj- short- 

 sighteil jjolicy on our part (or no policy 

 at all) to allow this thing to continue. God 

 in his goodness is sending the sunshine and 

 the shower year after year on these lands, 

 and everything needful for forest growth; 

 and we by our negligence are allowing it to 

 go to waste. We have vast areas in Canada 

 on which at the present time all that is 

 needed is to keep out the fires to ensure a 

 good forest growth. Every year's delay on 

 our part will make a greater area to be re- 

 forested in the future at great expense, 

 besides losing valuable time. 



' There never was a time in the historv 



of the Avorld when so much tindier in one- 

 form or another was being used. We are 

 using our own share as well as the share 

 of future unborn generations. In conse- 

 quence a mighty timber famine is upon us. 

 It is bad enough now, but what will it be 

 in a few years, when we have cut all the 

 oM stand, the growth of centuries? 



' To my mind, this forestry question is 

 one of the greatest problems before the- 

 ]>eop]e of Canada to-day. Something must 

 ])e <lone, and done quickly, if we are tO' 

 make our forests a blessing to future gen- 

 erations, as they have been to us. A few- 

 more years of such wicked wanton waste- 

 and our forests, God's richest legacy to- 

 the Canadian jieople, will be bevond re- 

 call. 



' I congratulated the Canadian Forestry 

 Association on the good work it has already 

 accomplished along forestry lines. Keep 

 pounding away. Get the people interested. 

 When they get their eyes opened to the true 

 state of affairs they will act, for ic is very 

 !-eldom we find a government in advance of 

 the people. ' 



STUPIDITY STREET. 



The following lines against \vanton and 

 foolish destruction of bird life are by Ralpb 

 Hodgson, one of the younger English poets - 



I saw with open eyes 

 Singing birds sweet 

 Sold in the shops 

 For the peoi)le to eat. 

 Sold in the shops of 

 Stupidity Street. 



I saw in vision 

 The worm in the wheat. 

 And in the shops nothing 

 For people to eat ; 

 Nothing for sale in 

 Stupidity Street. 



The forests of Corsica, the little island 

 upon which Napoleon was born, are man- 

 aged by the French government. They 

 produce lumber, firewood and turpentine, 

 and all parts of the tree are far more 

 closelv utilized than in America. 



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