Canadian Forestry Journal, November, ipij. 



261 



with the situation effectively, with 

 the exception of the month of 

 August in the Lower Fraser valley, 

 where several fires got beyond con- 

 trol. While 10,000 acres of logged- 

 over land were burned, the fires 

 were kept out of the merchantable 

 timber, only 36 acres of which were 

 burned. 



THE FORESTS PRIME-EVIL. 



By Jas. Lazder. 



A man there was and he let his fire 

 Burn down his neighbor's shed 



But he was tried and sent to jail, 

 And "Served him right" they said. 



Oh years he spend at breaking stone, 

 And he sleeps on a soft plank bed 



For carelessly burning his neigh- 

 bor's fence 

 And his fiftv dollar shed. 



A man there was and he let his fire 

 Burn down a forest wide. 



Millions of dollars went up in 

 smoke — 

 Thousands of animals died. 



Settlers rushed from burning homes, 

 Some were burned in their beds. 



And to-day o'er the place where this 

 was done 

 A deathlike desert spreads. 



And the man went back to his dis- 

 tant home 

 With a buck and a hunting tale, 

 And none of the neighbors rose to 

 remark 

 That he ought to be sent to jail. 



A fool there is and his name is US 



As the blindest man can see. 

 If its jail for the man who burns a 

 shed 

 \\ hile the burner of forests goes 

 free. 



A NEW USE FOR REINDEER. 



A discovery of rather unique 

 character has been made during the 

 past season on the waste lands 

 planted with forest trees by the 

 Laurentide Company at Grand 

 Mere, Quebec. As is well known to 

 foresters, hardwoods will grow 

 much faster than young evergreens 

 and unless checked in some way 

 will seriously retard the latter's 

 chances. Upon the areas in ques- 

 tion, much hardwood brush and a 

 great many hardwood stumps were 

 causing a profuse reproduction, 

 threatening the thousands of young 

 evergreens which the company had 

 set out in the same locality. In 

 order to keep down the hardwoods, 

 two goats were loosed and their eat- 

 ing operations closely watched. It 

 was soon found that the tender 

 young shoots of both hardwoods and 

 evergreens were equally attractive 

 to a goat's palate. Subsequently a 

 herd of reindeer which had been 

 domesticated on the company's lim- 

 its with a view to eventually devel- 

 oping their value in place of dogs 

 for winter travel and other purposes, 

 were placed in the fields of young 

 growth. They have been grazing 

 on the plantation all summer and 

 have not eaten a single spruce or 

 pine but have cleaned off all the 

 poplar, birch and maple, just as the 

 company desired. It was all a mat- 

 ter of palate, the reindeer rejecting 

 coniferous trees and devouring the 

 tender shoots of the hardwoods. To 

 those with similar problems on their 

 hands the results have proved of im- 

 portance. 



From a letter to the Association 

 by Alex. Bruce & Co.. the Glasgow, 

 Scotland, firm of railway sleeper 

 and pole contractors : "We are glad 

 to see the efforts that are being 

 made in the interests of forestry in 

 Canada, and we only regret that the 

 freight of this country makes Can- 

 adian timber so very expensive by 

 the time it reaches here as to make 

 business very difficult. 



