Canadian Forestry Journal. March, ipi6. 



443 



A '' Forestering Battalion'' 



The war has given rise to many 

 novel incidents but perhaps none 

 stranger than the proposed raising 

 of a battahon of woodsmen to cross 

 the seas and help cut down some of 

 Britain's home forests for war pur- 

 poses. The official announcement 

 as contained in the newspapers read 

 as follows : 



A Canadian forestering battalion 

 has been asked for by the War Of- 

 fice and steps have been taken im- 

 mediately by Major General Sir 

 Sam Hughes to form it. It will be 

 in command of Lieut. -Col. Alexan- 

 der McDougall of Ottawa, the well 

 known railway contractor. The 

 majors of the battalion will prob- 

 ably be Gerald White, M.P. for 

 North Renfrew, and B. R. Hepburn, 

 M.P. for Prince Edward. 



Canadian woodsmen are wanted 

 ■at once in Great Britain for timber- 

 ing operations in connection with 

 war requirements. Lumber is now 

 at an almost prohibitive price in the 

 Motherland, and ocean rates on 

 lumber from this side are so high 

 as to practically stop export from 

 here. In Great Britain there are 

 still large resources of standing 

 timber which can be cut down and 

 utilized for building operations, 

 trench construction work, etc. The 

 men from Canada know the busi- 

 ness and will get to work within a 

 month or so on the job. 



It is planned to raise companies 

 of experienced woodsmen from Bri- 

 tish Columbia, from Alberta and 

 northern Saskatchewan, from the 

 Ottawa Valley, and from Quebec 

 and New Brunswick. A number of 

 prominent lumbermen and contrac- 

 tors have agreed to co-operate in the 

 recruiting of the new battalion and 

 these modern cours-de-bois will 

 form one of the most picturesque 

 and at the same time most service- 

 able of the Canadian battalions for 

 overseas service. 



A Lesson in Consequences 



(From Toronto "Globe.") 

 The sweeping of the bison from 

 teh Western plains is well-nigh 

 parallel by the removal of the virgin 

 forests from older Ontario. Men are 

 still living who can remember when 

 the greater part of the southern half 

 of the Province was covered with 

 timber of a class which commands 

 famine prices to-day. The sturdy 

 oak, lordly pine, towering elm, and 

 beech, maple, ash, and basswood 

 were found in abundance almost 

 everywhere, while in special locali- 

 ties walnut was also common. Un- 

 told quantities of this timber were 

 burned in log heaps; more of it was 

 sold for a song. To-day so little of 

 the original forest remains that 

 some of the most valuable hardwood 

 cannot be obtained in commercial 

 quantities in older Ontario; a few 

 years ago, in a period of fuel scar- 

 city, the stumps of pine trees sold 

 for fuel at a higher price than was 

 secured for the trees which grew 

 upon them. 



The wholesale destruction o f 

 trees which occurred in the early 

 days of settlement is not the only 

 evil in the case. The Province has 

 been so stripped of forest protection 

 that creeks are drying- up and the 

 supply of well water has in many 

 places been endangered. In addi- 

 tion to this, the clearing of light 

 soils, unfitted for agricultural pur- 

 poses, is leaving exposed sandy 

 wastes which are a menace to better 

 land in the neighborhood. The les- 

 son taught by the experience of 

 older Ontario should not be lost on 

 the new area now being opened in 

 the north. In the portion of the 

 Province which has been over- 

 cleared a vigorous policy of reaffof- 

 esting should be adopted as soon as 

 normal conditions are restored after 

 the war. 



