American Forest Congress 421 



country. I sometimes think it is better to adhere to 

 an old system, improving it from time to time as expe- 

 rience may dictate, than it is to evolve a new system. 

 The genesis of our system of forest management is to 

 be found back in the days of the French regime in 

 Canada. At that time, when the Crown was parting 

 with the soil, it reserved to the King of France all the 

 timber on the land that was suitable for naval purposes. 

 The oak was the principal timber used for naval pur- 

 poses, and it was the timber reserved. Permits had to 

 be obtained to get into the forests and cut it. When 

 the country came into the possession of the British, 

 the same system was still pursued, but by this time 

 pine had become the valuable naval timber, and it was 

 reserved, and so it has been ever since. In all the titles 

 we give to settlers and others, we reserve the pine 

 timber until the patent has issued. So far as the 

 Province of Ontario is concerned, our principal revenue 

 is derived from the sale of pine timber. We have no 

 State tax as you have in the different States of the 

 Union. The people of Ontario are not taxed one 

 five-cent piece for State purposes, if I may put it in 

 that way. Our principal revenue comes from two 

 sources, first, the per capita grant made by the Federal 

 Government to the Province, and the other, the pro- 

 ceeds of the sale of our timber and lands. This last 

 year, 1904, our revenue from timber alone was some 

 $2,800,000. When we determine to dispose of any 

 quantity of timber, we survey it in what we call 

 "berths," that is, blocks of land having an area of 

 from two to fifty miles, as the case may be. Then we 

 advertise the sale very widely, notifying the people to 

 come and bid for these blocks. Before the day of 

 sale we have them carefully inspected, the timber upon 

 them estimated, and we put a value upon each block. 



