Canadian Forestry Journal, March, ipi6. 



451 



A Soil Survey 



(From "The North Woods" of St. Paul, U.S.A.) 



-The State Development Commit- 

 tee, which met in St. Paul early in 

 December, and the Northern De- 

 velopment Association, wiiich met in 

 Bemidji a week later, both passed 

 resolutions favoring a soil survey, 

 "to be made by those who want the 

 land used for ag-riculture." One of 

 these resolutions implies, and the 

 other one states explicitly, that the 

 foresters should not have anything 

 to say about the soil survey. 



AVe would call attention to the 

 fact that the foresters have never 

 asked for any part in this soil sur- 

 vey and do not want any part in it. 

 We have always stood for a survey 

 by experts in land classification, a 

 classification based on scientific me- 

 thods and not on prejudice. This is 

 the only basis on which a soil sur- 

 vey would be worth while. The ob- 

 ject of a survey should be to deter- 

 mine the use to which the land is 

 best suited. A survey with any 

 other object "is merely a fake which 

 uses up the people's money and ac- 

 complishes nothing. 



We regret the narrow policy that 

 the development associations have 

 adopted because it means a serious 

 setback to the best economic devel- 

 opment of the state. It means that 

 thousands of acres of land of little 

 or no agricultural value will be 

 opened up to settlement and brand- 

 ed with the state brand as farm land. 

 Thousands of families will move on 

 to it, wear out their lives trying to 

 compete with the real farm lands. 



"Only a man in a forest green, 

 Only a match that was drop- 

 ped unseen, 

 Only a flame, some leaves and 



wood, 

 And, only a waste where the 

 forest stood." . 



and fail miserably. In the end the 

 land will revert to the forest, survey 

 or no survey. The state has lost the 

 use of the land for many years and 

 the labor expended on these lands 

 has been worse than wasted. 



There are millions of acres of good 

 farm land in the state untouched. 

 AMiy not use these and let the other 

 lands produce timber until they are 

 needed for farms. They can be 

 changed into farm land just as well 

 then as now and will be producing 

 something in the meanwhile. 



However, if there is no chance for 

 an impartial, scientific soil survey, 

 by all means let us have one on the 

 basis that the development associa- 

 tions purpose. A definite classifica- 

 tion will be better than none, even 

 if it is all wrong; economic laws will 

 correct it in time, though at a tre- 

 mendous loss to the state. 



A bill is to be introduced in the 

 coming session of the British Colum- 

 bia 

 government 



Legislature 



authorizing 



the 

 to build thirty four- 

 masted schooners to be fitted 'with 

 auxilliary Diesel engines to be used 

 in the lumber carrying trade. 



The Charrn of a'SrowrvGanoe 



The name "brown" on a canoe stands for dis- 

 tinction, peifecc grace, every day reliability, safety. 

 freedom from repairs. Take no cliances this sum- 

 mer; buy a "Brown. 30th year. Send for a cata 

 logue. ' BROWN BOAT"' FACTORY, Lakefield, Oat. 



"You can paddle in any old 

 canoe, but to paddle in comfort 

 and safety and style you must 

 have a "Brown." It has all the 

 romance of the Indian birch 

 bark with greater reliability 

 and strength." 



