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FORESTRY IN CANADA. 



section ii.-the forests of canada. 

 1, Area and Ownership. 



Canadian Statisticians have, for practical purposes, divided the 

 country into the following two parts : — 



(1) Area north of latitude 60, comprising 1,242,225 square 



miles. 



(2) Area south of latitude 60, comprising 2,487,440 square 



miles. 



The former of these two areas is situated in the sub-arctic and 

 arctic regions, and it cannot, for many years, become an important 

 source of agricultural or forest produce. 



As far as the available data permitted, the area of Canada has 

 been classified as follows : — 



The agricultural lands and the merchantable forests are all 

 situated south of the 60th degree of latitude, while the unprofitable 

 and remote forests stretch across it. Of the agricultural land 

 about one quarter is occupied as farm land, of which 66,566 square 

 miles were under field crops in 1917. There is thus plenty of 

 room for extensions. It will be seen that the total forest area is 

 about one quarter of the total area. Of that area only 390,625 

 square miles are estimated to contain saw timber above 10 inches 

 diameter on the stump, and of that area much is as yet inaccessible 

 due to the difficulty of transportation. Much of the material 

 below 10 inches is profitable to cut wherever a demand exists 

 for pulpwood, crossties, poles and minor produce. 



The Dominion Government administers the following areas : — 



(1) The Crown lands in the three Prairie provinces Manitoba, 



Saskatchewan and Alberta. 



(2) The Crown lands in the Railway belt, 20 miles broad on 



each side of the Canadian Pacific Railway main line in 

 British Columbia. 



