24 



Canadian Forestry Journal, February, 1915. 



fire rangers eoutrol of the setting of fires 



for the clearing of land. 



MR. G. C. PICHE. 



Progress of Quebec Forest Service. 



Mr. G. C. Piche, Chief of the Quebec 

 Firest Service, traced the growth of the 

 Forest Service of Quebec, started in 1909, 

 with an expenditure of $55,000. The staff 

 then comprised two forest engineers, three 

 civil engineers, 15 student assistants and 

 80 rangers. In 1915, the estimated expen- 

 diture was $100,000, with a staff of 20 

 forest engineers, two civil engineers, 15 

 expert scalers or special agents and 80 

 forest rangers. In order to recruit the 

 technical men needed a forest school was 



Mr. G. C. Piche. 



established in 1910 at Quebec. The gov- 

 ernment employed 18 of the 26 forest engi- 

 neers, graduated from the Laval Forest 

 School. The next step would be a ranger 

 school to train men, not only for the gov- 

 ernment, but for lumbermen. 



Quebec had 130,000,000 acres of forest 

 area of which 45,000,000 acres were leased 

 to limit holders; 5,000,000 acres belonged 

 to private owners and the remaining 80,- 

 000,000 acres were in virgin forest. Co- 

 operation with private holders so as to 

 place their woodlots under a permanent 

 system of exploitation was desired in addi- 

 tion to the reforestation of waste lands. 

 The forest nursery at Berthierville had 



been increased to meet the big demand 

 Avhich had arisen for seedling trees for the 

 replanting of farmers' woodlots. 



Timber lands were being i)rotected from 

 land speculators getting them under cover 

 of colonization. During the last year 

 500,000 acres had been examined and clas- 

 sified so as to place limit holders in a more 

 certain position. 



On the south shore of the St. Lawrence 

 reserves had been created where no sales 

 will be made for ten years. Following an 

 exploration of 8,000 square miles of vacant 

 lauds, timber limits were sold, last Octo- 

 ber, bringing a higher bonus than at any 

 former sale. 



In pulp districts, operators are found to 

 be cutting stumps low and tops small to a 

 degree not thought of in 1909. To encour- 

 age this more, it has recently been decided 

 to rebate 50 per cent, of the stumpage diie 

 for all logs, less than six inches in di- 

 ameter at the small end. 



Insect attacks had been slight but there 

 was a reduction in the reproduction of bal- 

 sam fir and sjjruce by the defoliations of 

 the spruce bud worm. Shifting sands were 

 a menace in many sections, due to bad 

 cultivation, sandy waves covering good 

 soil. To combat this, temporary cover with 

 Iteach grass was very effective and 150 

 acres were so treated at Lachute. Fifty 

 more acres were replanted with white pine, 

 Scotch pine, spruce and green ash. At 

 Berthier Junction another planting experi- 

 ment, begun last autumn, would be con- 

 tinued in the spring. 



Fire protection had been well executed 

 by Mr. W. C. J. Hall, with a small staff,, 

 jii'd by the lumbermen in such excellent 

 organizations as the St. Maurice A^ alley 

 Forest Protective Association and the 

 Lower Ottawa Forest Protective Associa- 

 tion. 



Mr. Piche expected to see the present 

 cut of one billion feet from the forests,, 

 under license, greatly increased, by scien- 

 tific methods without undue drain on thfr 

 forest. 



MR. H. R. MACMILLAN. 



The Real Object of Forestry. 



Mr. H. E. MacMillan, Chief Forester of 

 British Columbia, urged an educational 

 campaign to dispel public apathy, founded 

 on ignorance, with regard to forests. Can- 

 ada had not progressed as far as might be- 

 expected of a people so dependent on for- 

 ests. Extension of forest administration 

 was opi^osed by many misinformed people- 

 who regarded it largely as a sentimental 

 movement to prohibit the cutting of trees; 

 by others who regarded it as an expendi- 

 ture of much government money in plant- 



