Canadian Forestry Journal, October, ipij. 



229 



and the initiative must come from 

 the people or the municipalities. I 

 have reason to believe that munici- 

 pal ownership and protection would 

 work out to better advantage, and 

 give more certain results. 



Seeding and Planting. 



A few words here about seeding 

 or tree planting. I quote from For- 

 est Protection in Canada, published 

 by the Commission of Conservation 

 in 1912, by Clyde Leavitt: 



"On account of the excellent re- 

 production which generally follows 

 lumbering and fires, the necessity of 

 artificial planting had not made it- 

 self strongly felt in the Province of 

 New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. 

 The situation is emphasized by the 

 fact that cut over lands well stocked 

 with young growth can be purchased 

 at a less cost per acre than would 

 be required to stock artificially." I 

 wish to add that pine will follow 

 pine, and the same with other coni- 

 ferous grow^th if a fair number of 

 seed trees are left standing. The 

 greater value to the province is in 

 this reproduction, and not in hard- 

 wood. 



Looking at the matter from a muni- 

 cipal standpoint I do not believe I can 

 do better than to state conditions in my 

 own town of Annapolis Royal. Unfor- 

 tunately I cannot write so much of what 

 has been done but only to say what 

 might be done. The town owns its 

 ^yater service, and water power electric 

 lighting plant. Both service and power 

 come from the same source on the Le- 

 quille stream. The drainage area is 49 

 miles, approximate head of water at the 

 electric plant is 40 feet, developing 120 

 horse power. The town owns only a 

 few acres of land and does not control 

 the water flowage, but depends on the 

 natural flow of the brook and providen- 

 tial rains in summer to keep the lights 

 burning. The plant is now operating to 

 nearly full capacity. 



The drainage area is cut over land of 

 mixed growth, and there has been of late 

 no destructive fires. Roads parallel the 

 stream, making supervision comparative- 

 ly easy. I have been advocating that 

 the municipality purchase sufficient of 

 this land to make a protection by let- 

 ting the young forest grow, and at the 

 same time utilize the wood for the bene- 

 fit of the corporation. The town uses 



70 cords of wood annually for the public 

 school, purchases wood for the poor, 

 and there is also an annual consumption 

 for roadwork, bridges, drains and cul- 

 verts, and for municipal buildings. 



Results Abroad. 



The question of course is: Will it pay? 

 and in answer to that I wish to call your 

 attention to municipal ownership abroad. 

 In Switzerland the municipalities not 

 only make a commercial success of such 

 ownership but also make use of their 

 forests as parks. Of 1,564 communities 

 in the State of Baden 1,530 have their 

 own forests. These forests are managed 

 as farms. The lumber is cut at the 

 proper time and every cutting is follow- 

 ed by natural growth or artificial plant- 

 ing of valuable kinds of trees. The city 

 of Baden, of 16,000 population, owns 

 10,576 acres of forest. The total income 

 averages $100,000 per annum, the outlay 

 is about $33,000, nearly all of which is for 

 labor. There remains each year $66,000 

 for the city treasury. Forests of this 

 kind have been worked for 100 years ami 

 still produce an assured annual cut of 

 wood. 



One village has 1,600 population, owns 

 4,507 acres of forest. The yearly cut is 

 2,500,000 feet of lumber and firewood; of 

 this all the firewood up to seven cords 

 each is given to the citizens. Two hund- 

 red cords goes to the schools and public 

 buildings. The lumber is sold and brings 

 a net income of $21,600. The community 

 is not only free from all communal 

 taxes, but is also able to establish mod- 

 ern works and public buildings. Please 

 keep in mind that the cut of wood does 

 not diminish, the annual income is as- 

 sured so long as there is no devastating 

 fire. 



The examples quoted are not excep- 

 tional, they are representative of thous- 

 ands of tow-ns and villages in Europe. 

 The forest holdings are as small as 160 

 acres and make proportionate returns. 

 We cannot expect municipal forestry to 

 be as profitable in Canada, but surely 

 with water rights to conserve, and valu- 

 able growing forest land so close at hand 

 to many of our towns, this matter of 

 municipal ownership of forest is well 

 worth consideration. 



What Could Be Done. 



To go back to the Municipality of 

 Annapolis Royal. The town in contrast 

 to the European municipalities, issued 

 bonds and put in its water and lighting 

 systems and made a direct tax for the 

 improvements. From my understanding 

 of the Town Incorporation Act, a muni- 

 cipality can purchase direct or obtain by 

 expropriation all necessary land to se- 

 (Continued on page 238.) 



