420 



Canadian Forestry Journal^ March, ipi6. 



thern Ontario is not likely to take 

 -an active interest in forest policy, 

 and it will take considerable educa- 

 tion and publicity work to make 

 him see that he is a joint owner in 

 the state forest lands. 



The Clay Belt at the north, esti- 

 tnated as an area of sixteen to twen- 

 ty million of acres, is a region of 

 spruce, balsam, poplar and birch of 

 comparatively small timber, prob- 

 ably more adapted to the pulp than 

 to the lumber industry. This re- 

 g-ion has in general a soil adapted 

 for agricultural development and it 

 is being opened for settlement. 



Opinion Favors Burning. 



I do not propose to discuss at any 

 length the forestry problems which 

 are developing in this region. Ow- 

 ing to the local opinion that burn- 

 ing, clearing and cultivation will 

 improve the climatic conditions of 

 this region there is a tendency to 

 look upon forest fires as a blessing. 



It is certain that clearance, drain- 

 age and cultivation of the land will 

 lengthen the growing season. There 

 are many soils with a large amount 

 of vegetable mould and humus 

 where limited burning may be bene- 

 ficial but indiscriminate burning is 

 injuring many of the heavier clay 

 soils, especially upon rolling land. 



Forest Reserve of All. 

 Lying to the south of the Clay 

 Belt is a region about one thousand 

 miles long and from one hundred to 

 two hundred miles in width, which 

 from its very nature can never be 

 developed along agricultural lines. 

 Here and there are patches of soil 

 suited for agriculture but in the 

 main this must always be a forest 

 and mining region. Within this re- 

 gion we have a number of Reserves 

 and Parks. I often feel that it would 

 have been preferable to have created 

 this whole region a Forest Reserve 

 and then to have admitted the 

 smaller interests under special con- 

 ditions. Within this region there is 

 the outstanding problem of protec- 



tion. Until this is reasonably well 

 accomplished it is useless to talk of 

 artificial reforestation. 



The old settled agricultural por- 

 tion of Ontario presents forestry 

 problems peculiar to its own condi- 

 tions. We have a region as large as 

 some provinces, a region which has 

 been cleared and more or less set- 

 tled. We have large areas upon 

 which efforts to farm have been at- 

 tempted and given up as a hopeless 

 task. Thousands of acres of worth- 

 less areas have developed which 

 present social and economic condi- 

 tions demanding attention. 



Experimental Planting. 



Ontario has undertaken a demon- 

 stration of the possibilities on one 

 of these areas in Norfolk County. 

 Here we have a Provincial Forest 

 Station with two thousand acres, in 

 the heart of a good agricultural re- 

 gion, where a demonstration is be- 

 ing made at forest planting and 

 other forestry problems. 



We have reclaimed by forest 

 planting, sandy soils which had be- 

 come a menace to surrounding terri- 

 tory, sand dunes covering township 

 roads, etc. Aside from the actual 

 work being done at this Station it is 

 interesting to note the influence 

 upon the surrounding district. The 

 planting of small pines on these 

 sands was at first ridiculed by many 

 of the farmers of the district. Our 

 first planting in 1909, upon a sand 

 dune which was moving across the 

 township road and over which many 

 farmers had to pass, is to-day a 

 young forest of imposing character. 

 I repeat that at first this work met 

 doubt and even ridicule. To-dav it 

 has the active, support of the local 

 people and last season over fifty 

 thousand trees were given out in the 

 vicinity to private parties wishing 

 to follow the example upon similar 

 soils. 



I wish to point out that we do not 

 expect to solve the problem of a fu- 

 ture wood supply. We are, how- 

 ever, reclaiming waste land and lay- 



