Canadian Forestry Journal, September^ ip^S- 



185 



'good old days' fires were not usually 

 seen nor their extent estimated un- 

 less tiiey cleaned out the logging 

 camp itself. A lumberjack usually 

 guessed at a burn as some farmers 

 guess at a morning's tramp — 'a-mile- 

 and-a-bit' — and let it go at that. 

 Secondly, the fire risk in the 'good 

 old days' was minimized by the iso- 

 lation of the forests from settle- 

 ment. To-day, scarcely a limit in 

 any province but is cut into and rim- 

 med about bv settlers, the most pro- 

 lific of all fire causes. Railways have 

 also spread into the forest districts 

 bringing with them a measure of 

 danger. It is undeniable that the 

 information regarding burned-over 

 areas secured by rangers of the two 

 Quebec associations amazed the 

 limit holders, some of whom almost 

 refused to believe that losses in the 

 past had been so considerable. It 

 is equally undeniable that with the 



organization of the limit holders for 

 forest guarding purposes, the annual 

 losses have been cut to a fraction. 

 The total cost of guarding the terri- 

 tory of the Lower Ottawa last year 

 amounted to .2995 of a cent per acre 

 while one-dollar per acre per annum 

 is a very modest estimate of the ap- 

 preciation of average woodlands. 



Non-political Management. 



Beyond any other lesson which 

 the success of the Lower Ottawa 

 and the St. Maurice schemes con- 

 tains is the identity of skilled (and 

 non-political) management and effi- 

 cient results. The inspectors and 

 manager have absolute authority to 

 'hire and fire.' Rangers are held 

 under strict discipline at all times 

 and during the past two seasons a* 

 number of dismissals have taken 

 place. The system of inspection is 

 unrelenting; a ranger may be called 



