NOTES. 469 



forest by doubling the rate on all trees cut which would not 

 square more than eight inches. By the Crown Timber Act in 

 1849 the granting licenses for one year only was permitted, 

 with the provision that at the end of the year the government 

 could make any desired change in the regulations. At first 

 only a ground rent of 62 cents per square mile, or double that 

 if unworked, was charged, but as competition for the limits 

 began, the system of auctioning them was introduced, and till 

 this time this system has persisted with a few modifications. 

 In this way the government still owns the land and has a 

 right at any time to refuse to renew licenses. 



At present there is a division of authority in the forest 

 administration between the Dominion and the Provincial 

 governments. The Dominion administration is under the 

 Department of Interior, and controls the land north of Que- 

 bec and Ontario, including Labrador on the east and extend- 

 ing west to British Columbia and Alaska. The Dominion also 

 owns a strip of land in British Columbia along the Canadian 

 Pacific Railway, 40 miles wide and 500 miles long, which is 

 heavily forested. 



This Dominion forestry branch has been established only 

 four years, but already it has a fairly efficient system of fire 

 rangers, and has commenced a great work of forest tree plant- 

 ing on the plains. This movement was really started by the 

 Experimental Farms under Dr. William Saunders in 1889, 

 and since that time to 1901, i^ milHons of young forest trees 

 and cuttings and 8.5 tons of seed, chiefly box-elder and 

 green ash, have been distributed among the settlers. This 

 work is taken up by the Interior Department more extensively. 



Most of the forest now being exploited comes under the 

 jurisdiction of the Provincial governments, except in Manitoba 

 and the territories, where the country is new and forest land 

 scarce. In Prince Edward Island the forests are almost en- 

 tirely under private owners, and not much has been done in 

 the way of forestry. In the other provinces the forests are 

 perhaps the most valuable form of public wealth. In all, 



