28 THE CANADIAN FORESTER'S 



If it be thus in regions full formerly of the finest 

 timber, still more must we dread to see the rest of our 

 forests disappear by degrees. For the truth is, these 

 forests are no better treated than those that have already 

 vanished, and have not only to supply the local demand, 

 but the demand of the cleared districts as well. 



In order that an equilibrium may be established, and 

 our woods utilised but not destroyed, we must not only 

 preserve and restore them, but we must create new 

 ones, that is to say, we must re-plant. 



Here, I may say, that almost all that I have stated 

 with regard to the preservation of forests applies equally 

 to their creation, such as the system of prizes for the 

 encouragement of planting, and the like. 



Ee-planting is a work repugnant to certain minds. 

 They see very little to encourage them to plant, because, 

 as they say, they will never enjoy the fruits of their 

 labour. They are wrong! I, who am comparatively 

 young, have seen parts of the forest falling under the 

 axe, and replaced by the golden sheaves of the husband- 

 man ; and now I see the spots clothed again with wood, 

 and that very wood once more in process of felling. I 

 remember well, among the sweet memories of my child- 

 hood, a trip to the sugar-bush. It was in a grove of ancient 

 maples that the little /e'te took place ; I was then in my 

 seventh year. The following winter, those very maples 

 were warming our house, and the owner of thj land had 

 carried off a crop grown among the stumps. Pass by the 

 spot in April now, and you will hear the song of the 

 sugar-maker, still engaged in his work, in the same 

 place — but the trees are not the same, they are new ones, 

 shot up where the old ones stood — and all this in twenty 

 seA^en years ! 



A.nd yet, the maple is not one of the quickest growing 



