Canadian Forestry Journal, November, ipij. 



263 



The Conquering Forest. 



The trees are no decaying race 

 -that must be spoon-fed to keep them 

 irom disappearing like the dodo and 

 the passenger pigeon. Dr. Fernow 

 in his lecture, "The Battle of the 

 Forest," states that the forest is a 

 mighty army, always advancing, 

 and that if it were not for Man and 

 Fire the forest would in a few score 

 years cover every part of the whole 

 ■earth, except the absolute deserts 

 and snow-capped mountain tops. 

 Here then is a mighty force. Our 

 forefathers in pioneer days in Can- 

 ada used to consider it a relentless 

 •enemy, ever endeavoring to over- 

 run their farms. We know it is a 

 steadfast, unbreakable friend which, 

 unless we drive it away with fire, 

 will cover our sandy plains, our 

 rocky hillsides and our steep moun- 

 tains making them produce ever- 

 repeated crops of valuable timber, 

 keeping our streams in even flow, 

 sheltering our insectivorous birds, 

 protecting us against hot winds in 

 summer and cold blasts in winter, 

 belping the farmer, the manufactur- 

 er, the merchant, the railways, the 

 mechanic and the laborer, and in fact 

 €very person in Canada. 



Is not this a friend worth know- 

 ing and should we not all do what 

 we can to stop the onslaughts of the 

 enemy that does him the greatest 

 damage — Fire ? 



The Use of Shade Trees. 



The foregoing applies to the for- 

 est trees. They are crops which 

 ought to be harvested for the use of 

 man and to make way for new crops. 

 Trees in parks, gardens and on 

 streets are in a different class. These 

 are not lumber trees and would not 

 serve any very useful purpose if cut 

 down. They are too short, have too 

 many limbs and too many knots. 

 But they are very useful while liv- 

 ing. They purify the air — your 

 teacher will tell you how — they give 

 grateful shade, help to keep the air 

 cooler, thev rest the eves and bv 



Mr. Albert Grigg, former M.P.P. for 

 Algoma, who has taken up his duties as 

 Deputy Minister of the Ontario Depart- 

 ment of Lands and Forests. Mr. Grigg 

 succeeds the late Mr. Aubrey White, 

 C.M.G., a director of the Canadian For- 

 estry Association for many years. 



their beauty make us all happier. If 

 the poet had written, 



"Lineman, lineman spare that 

 tree." 



we would all agree with him. 

 There are laws against the cutting 

 down and mutilating of such trees 

 and we should all do all we can to 

 prevent their destruction. An ignor- 

 ant, careless telephone or telegraph 

 lineman may destroy in an hour a 

 tree which took one hundred years 

 to grow and which might go on 

 growing for two hundred years 

 more. It may be impossible because 

 of sewers and pavements to get an- 

 other tree to grow in its place, so we 

 should fight to preserve it. But take 

 care to see that it is a worthy tree, 

 not a short-lived, dirty tree unsuited 

 to streets and parks before we make 

 our protests. 



A tree is no good in itself but only 

 in so far as it does good to men, 

 women and children. 



