20 THE CANADIAN FORESTER'S 



water collects in th.e cavities formed by the roots of 

 those which the wind has- thrown to the ground ; frost 

 raises the surface, and thus loosens the roots of the 

 young trees ; if the ill-used wood is near settled town- 

 ships, the stock break in, devouring all the tender shoots 

 of the young struggling plants, and stamping to death 

 with their clumsy hoofs the naked roots of the older 

 trees, till at last, by a concurrence of all these causes, 

 the maltreated forest entirely disappears. 



Now, all this may be avoided, the evil may be cured, 

 and we are about to see in what way each of us can 

 do his part in the patriotic work. 



CHAPTER n. 



DUTY OF THE PnOVlNCIAL GOVERNMENTS AS REGARDS THE 

 RESTORATION OF THE FORESTS. 



Grovernments can assist greatly in restoring the forests 

 to their pristine condition. The action they are called 

 upon to undertake is not a direct action, as in the case 

 of the preservation of uninjured woods, seeing that 

 those which require restoration have generally passed 

 out of their control. 



Nevertheless, they can assist the work greatly. I will 

 relate an isolated fact which will serve to show how our 

 legislators can attain the proposed end. A Horticultural 

 Society in the Province of Quebec, with very little 

 encouragement from government, left, in fact, almost to 

 its own resources, offered certain prizes for the re- 

 planting of woodlands. A farmer, a competitor for these 

 prizes, carried off the first, after showing that he had 

 replanted in maple 62 arpents, (1) whence the wood had 



(1) 13 arpents — 11 acres, nearly. — Trs. 



