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Canadian Forestry Journal, November, ipi3. 



A TALK ON FORESTRY FOR CHILDREN 



By 

 James Lawler. 



The forests of Canada mean so 

 much to everyone in Canada that 

 all young Canadians, girls as well as 

 boys, ought to know about them. 



In the first place let us all get rid 

 of the idea that our present state is 

 anything to be ashamed of. Canada 

 is a great country in area, in popula- 

 tion and in the industry and intelli- 

 gence of its people. After all, this 

 last is what really matters. 



Foresters like trees but they only 

 like trees because they add to the 

 happiness and comfort of men and 

 women. If cutting down and burn- 

 ing up all the trees in Canada would 

 make the people of Canada happier, 

 richer, more able to enjoy life and to 

 fight for the right, then every for- 

 ester would urge that a big bonfire 

 be lighted to burn down every tree. 



Trees Necessary to Life. 



But foresters know that trees not 

 only make men happier and richer 

 but also that without trees it would 

 be impossible to live in some parts 

 of Canada while all parts of it would 

 suffer. 



Some time ago a poet in one of the 

 western states wrote a poem be- 



gmning : 



"Woodman, woodman, spare that 

 tree. 

 Cut not a single bough." 



This poem has been recited again 

 and again and the people who re- 

 cited it imagined they were doing 

 some good to forestry. 



Nothing could be further from the 

 case, so far as commercial forestry 

 is concerned. The farmer, who 

 should refuse to cut down a field of 

 wheat or corn when it was ripe, on 

 the excuse that he wanted to con- 

 serve it, would be rightly esteemed 

 crazy. 



If a forest of trees is ripe it should 



be cut down and turned, as soon as 

 possible into houses and ships and 

 wagons and railway cars and other 

 things which men need. To refuse 

 to cut down a ripe forest, when there 

 are people needing the timber, is not 

 to save it but to lose it. The farm- 

 er's ripe wheat, if not cut, is shelled 

 out by the wind and beaten down by 

 the storms till it is all lost. In the 

 same way the ripe forest trees decay, 

 are blown down and eaten by 

 worms without doing good to any 

 one. 



The Hope of the Forest. 



The point is, that when a forest is 

 cut down it should be cut in such a 

 manner that the young growth is 

 injured as little as possible. Then, 

 if the land is not fit for farms, the 

 young growth should be so protect- 

 ed (chiefly from fire) that as soon 

 as possible it will grow up into a 

 forest of big trees. The successful 

 farmer, when he cuts down a field of 

 wheat, proceeds to get the ground 

 ready for a new and better crop of 

 wheat. In the same way when a 

 forest is harvested the owner of the 

 land ought to to get the land ready 

 for a new and better crop of trees. 

 The farmer kills weeds that are 

 crowding out his grain, and the for- 

 ester cuts down weed trees that pre- 

 vent young pines or spruces or other 

 trees from growing. 



The Man with the Axe. 



The forester is the man with the 

 axe, not the man with the spade. If 

 we cut down our forests aright in 

 Canada there would never be any 

 need to plant, except to bring in new 

 and better kinds of trees, and, badly 

 as we have managed things in the 

 past, we should endeavor to get on 

 with as little planting as possible. 



