552 



Canadian Forestry Journal, May, ipid. 



Making Sure of a Future Forest 



From an Article by 

 R. O. Szvcccey, in Pulp and Paper Magazine. 



In this country the principle of 

 conservation has awakened such a 

 sympathetic response from all intel- 

 ligent proprietors of forests that we 

 find, not only the inauguration and 

 vigorous application of elaborate and 

 efficient fire protective systems, but 

 such advanced practice as reforesta- 

 tion on an important scale being in- 

 troduced by one of the leading pulp 

 and paper firms. 



Because we are erroneously bas- 

 ing our calculations and methods on 

 conditions that existed years ago, 

 before the pulpwood industry held 

 sway, I maintain that we shall soon 

 realize that the capital wealth of the 

 forest is being depleted with little 

 or no prospect of renewal. Areas 

 that are logged over to-day — even 

 though the logger adheres scrupu- 

 lously to state laws for cutting — are 

 HI grave danger of becoming mere 

 "wind-falls" with a possibility of a 

 future "cut" over the same area a 

 very speculative one indeed. 



But why should there be any un- 

 certainty about the same area"^ pro- 

 ducing in a reasonable time a forest 

 crop just as good as the one being 

 cut to-day ? 



Taking Care of Seed Trees. 



Do we not find areas that were 

 even burned over — perhaps 100 

 years ago — offering good pulpwood 

 crops to-day? We do, indeed, and 

 such areas have been grown from 

 seed. too. But had there been no 

 old spruce trees scattered about in 

 little patches that escaped the fire 

 the prribability of a spruce covering 

 would have given way to one of de- 

 ciduous growth- — examples of which 

 an observant forester finds frequent- 

 ly enough. 



It is known by the forester of 

 course that spruce seed, in order to 

 have a fair chance to germinate, 

 must come from a tree of consider- 

 ably advanced age. and moreover, it 

 is not every year that conditions are 

 favorable for the seed. Hence by 

 our present method of pulpwood 

 lumbering in which only young and 

 slender conifers are left we not only 

 remove the old seed trees, but we in- 

 vite the destruction of the remaining 

 young trees by reason of their ex- 

 posure to wind as a result of having 

 cut the larger protecting growth. It 

 may be stated, however, that if the 

 year of cutting happens to be a good 



