Part V 

 Forest Planting in Canada 



THERE is an enormous area of non-agricultural land in Canada, 

 which is suitable only for the production of timber. For this 

 purpose, however, it is very valuable, and the best interests of the 

 country demand that its productive capacity be fttlly utilized. The 

 loss of timber resoiurces by fire has been very great. An investigation 

 by the Forestry Branch, Department of the Interior, indicates, that, of 

 the original forest of Canada, half has been destroyed by fire, that for 

 every foot of timber utilized, seven have been burned, and that at the 

 low estimated value of 50 cents per thousand feet B.M., the timber 

 uselessly destroyed by fire would have yielded a direct revenue of more 

 than one billion dollars, in addition to the vast' indirect benefits that 

 wotild have resulted from its utilization. Contrary to the usual 

 supposition, the forest resources of Canada are much less in amount 

 than those of the United States, — probably not much, if any, more 

 than one-fifth. 



The question of the conservation of our forest resources thus 

 becomes of the most pressing tu-gency to those who have a true interest 

 in the permanent welfare of the country. The situation can in part be 

 met by the better care and use of existing resources, and in part by the 

 establishment of new resources through afforestation or reforesta- 

 tion. 



The first method involves the question of fire protection, use of 

 wood preservatives, elimination of waste in logging and manufacturing, 

 and the use of substitutes, including the utilization of so-called in- 

 ferior species as well as of substances other than wood. Along these 

 lines, much progress is being made, but very much still remains to be 

 accomplished. 



The second method — the establishment of new forest resources 

 — is a line of work along which, in Canada, the greatest progress has 

 been made in the prairie sections of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Mani- 

 toba. The economic conditions in these sections are such as to demand 

 the vigorous prosecution of tree-planting work. Here, where planting 

 is necessary to the establishment of a forest, we have the best demon- 

 stration of the fact that the forest is a crop, differing from other crops 

 only in the time element, 



