430 



Canadian Forestry Journal, March, Tpi6. 



mere bruslilands. and still others 

 entirely waste — dilapidated woods 

 which only a laborious building-up 

 process can bring into desirable pro- 

 ductive condition, and that means 

 careful planning and eventually the 

 necessitv of expenditure in starting 

 future crops. 



In this connection, there is one 

 feature of importance to which I 

 may refer in passing, that pertains 

 at least to some of the reserves in 

 the prairie region which is encourag- 

 ing in this respect, namely the re- 

 markable rapidity of growth, which 

 excels that of the eastern provinces, 

 and promises early maturing of a 

 valuable crop. 



This statement has special refer- 

 ence to the white spruce, which on 

 the deep soils which it occupies 

 grows for a long time on the average 

 at a rate of 5 to 6 years to the inch, 

 making a 15-inch tree, 80 feet in 

 height, in 80 years. 



(The foregoing forms part of a 

 paper read by Dr. Fernow before 

 the Commission of Conservation at 

 the 1916 meetings. The balance of 

 the paper will be published in the 

 April issue of the Journal.) 



Approves Quebec's Amendments 



(Montreal Herald) 

 The paramount importance o f 

 preserving our forests should en- 

 sure the most sympathetic consider- 

 ation by the Quebec Government of 

 the proposals recently submitted by 

 a deputation of timber limit holders 

 to prohibit the setting out any set- 

 tlers' clearing fires. Briefly, the 

 limit holders ask that the law shall 

 l)rohibit the setting out of any set- 

 tlers' clearing fires between April 1 

 artd November 15 without the writ- 

 ten permission of a cjualified ranger. 

 The law at present makes the "per- 

 mit season" only from April 15th to 

 June 15th, and after September 1st. 

 That is. the present law fails to 

 specify any form of control what- 



ever over settlers' fires between 

 June 15th and September 1st. The 

 limit holders ask that the entire sea- 

 son of fire danger be blanketed by 

 the requirement regarding permits 

 for fires. Settlers are to-day the 

 biggest enemy to forest preservation 

 in Quebec. 



Then, it is asked that the mini- 

 mum fine for failing to obey the re- 

 Cjuirements in respect to permits 

 shall be one hundred dollars. The 

 present fines are mostly trifling, $2 

 and $5, and do not accomplish what 

 they ought. Thirdly, it is asked 

 that no option of fine shall be al- 

 lowed the man found guilty of set- 

 ting fire to the forest in order to 

 provide himself employment at fire- 

 fighting. Twelve months should be 

 the minimum sentence. Fourthly, 

 the rangers or other forest officers 

 should have authority to summon 

 any male adult to help extinguish 

 fires, such persons to receive the re- 

 gular remuneration. 



These are all perfectly reasonable 

 proposals. They would not entail 

 any hardships on bona-fide settlers, 

 but they would do away with care- 

 lessness, which, under present cir- 

 cumstances, is often little short of 

 criminal. It is becoming increasing- 

 ly evident that the future of our 

 province is bound up with forest in- 

 dustries, and no reasonable step 

 should be neglected which will help 

 preserve to us the great heritage we 

 have in our forests. 



Mr. H. R. MacMillan. Chief For- 

 ester of British Columbia, now act- 

 ing as Special Trade Commissioner 

 for that Province, has reached 

 Johannesburg,, South Africa. He 

 writes from there that he is having 

 a hard fight against Southern yel- 

 low pine. The orders coming to 

 British Columbia since he began his 

 journey tell of the success of his 

 mission, especially those received 

 from the British War Office. It is 

 rumored that he will go to the front. 



