Canadian Forestry Journal, April, ipi6. 



469 



fact and figure to demonstrate their 

 inability to make day wages out of 

 cutting and marketing the pulpwood 

 on their properties. That the On- 

 tario Government should under- 

 take to ross and market the pulp- 

 wood for the settlers is a piece of 

 advice frequently heard but experi- 

 ments in that paternal direction have 

 not been notably successful. Again, 

 the suggestion is made that the rail- 

 way rates should be lowered so as to 

 deliver the pulpwood at the United 

 States border leaving a better mar- 

 gin for the settler. This in turn is 

 countered by the statement that re- 

 duced railway rate on the T. and N. 

 O- would be absorbed by the pulp- 

 wood buyers and the settlers would 

 be no better off. The marketing of 

 wood from clearings is complicated 

 by many factors, not the least of 

 which is the newcomer's inexperi- 

 ence in such forms of work as bush 

 clearing, the scarcity of proper 

 equipment, the relative rarity of 

 good roads. In spite of these handi- 

 caps, however, the settlers shipped 

 out last year, as mentioned above, 

 the large total of 110,000 cords, and 

 near such communities as New 

 Liskeard one does not lack for ex- 

 amples of prosperous contented 

 farmers who have braved the incon- 

 veniences of pioneer life and have 

 come out at the happy end. 



Unrestricted Burning. 



These fortunate examples do not 

 alter the fact that an influential per- 

 centage of 'local sentiment' through- 

 out the Claybelt favors unrestricted 

 "burning off of the forest growth, not 

 only what is immediately required 

 for crop purposes but far in advance 

 of settlement for many years to 

 come. To make a living in the 

 shortest possible time and by the 

 most direct is the natural ambition 

 of newcomers the majority of whom 

 have almost no capital whatever. 

 Whether the heavy clay soil would 

 be the gainer by the avoidance of 

 repeated fires is a secondary con- 

 sideration. 



The Leading Question. 



The vital question in Northern 

 Ontario resolves itself into the con- 

 servation of forest growth on lands 

 not suited for agriculture and this 

 automatically rules out. under pre- 

 sent conditions, the Claybelt sec- 

 tion. It is quite true that even in 

 that enormous territory, some form 

 of supervision of clearing fires 

 Avould work in the interests of the 

 settlers themselves and of every 

 town and village, but until the ab- 

 solute forest land of Northern On- 

 tario, south of the Claybelt, and 

 measuring roughly a thousand miles 

 long and from one hundred to two 

 hundred miles wide receives proper 

 fire protection, the Claybelt itself 

 can not be singled out for special 

 treatment, ^^'ithin this non-agricul- 

 tural region are some Reserves and 

 Parks, but the condition of much of 

 the remainder shows how very ur- 

 genth' protection is required. From 

 the appearance of much of the coun- 

 try south of Cobalt and for some 

 distance back from the railway, 

 with little or no settlement in sight, 

 the combination of cutting and fire 

 have left no very inviting prospect 

 for the future. Ontario has over 

 2,000 wood-using industries and 

 upon the supply of enormous quan- 

 tities of materials from Northern 

 Ontario their security depends. 



All Favor Reforms. 



As to the Association's sugges- 

 tions for the better control of fires 

 on non-agricultural lands, the Secre- 

 tary found practically a unanimous 

 opinion among settlers, merchants, 

 miners and professional men of 

 Northern Ontario. These men fullv 

 appreciated the value of standing 

 forests as a source of supply for 

 Ontario's industries and knew like- 

 wise the inadequacy of the present 

 protective system. That forest 

 rangers should be closely super- 

 vised was not disputed in anv quar- 

 ter. 



The Editor of the Cochrane "Clay- 

 belt, ' an influential newspaper "in 



