FORESTS 



FORESTS 



319 



square miles, nearly half of which is in British 

 Columbia. Commercial timber is now, and will con- 

 tinue to be, secured from the forests of the old 

 eastern provinces and British Columbia,the remain- 

 ing territory being either forestless or depleted of 

 its valuable timber. Some twenty-five millions of 

 acres have been cut out in the settlement of the 

 country for farm purposes. 



The composition in general is the same as that 

 of the northern forest in the United States : hard- 

 woods (birch, maple and elm prevailing) with 

 conifers mixed, the latter, especially spruce, be- 

 coming pure occasionally. The nearly pure hard- 

 wood forest of the southern Ontario peninsula has 

 been supplanted almost entirely by farms, and 

 here, even for domestic fuel, coal, imported from 

 the United States, is used. Although white pine, 

 the most important staple, is found in all parts 

 of this forest region, the best and largest supplies 

 are now confined to the region north of Georgian 

 bay. Unopened spruce- and fir-lands still abound, 

 especially in Quebec on the Gaspe peninsula. Spruce 

 forms also the largest share in the composition of 

 the New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfound- 

 land forest, the pine in the first two provinces 

 having practically been cut out. Extensive, almost 

 pure balsam-fir forest, fit for pulp wood, still covers 

 the plateau of Cape Breton, while Prince Edward 

 island is to the extent of 60 per cent cleared for 

 agricultui'al use. 



Much of this eastern forest area is not only 

 culled of its best timber, but burnt over, and 

 thereby deteriorated in its composition. 



North of the Height of Land (a plateau with 

 low hills, which cuts off the Atlantic region' from 

 the northern country, and marks the northern 

 limit of commercial forest) in Ungava and west- 

 ward, spruce continues to timber line, but, outside 

 of narrow belts following the river valleys, only 

 in open stand, branchy and stunted, hardly fit 

 even for pulp, for the most part intermixed with 

 birch and aspen. This open spruce forest continues 

 more or less to the northern tundra and across 

 the continent to within a few miles of the mouth 

 of the Mackenzie river and the Arctic ocean, the 

 white spruce being the most northern species. In 

 the interior northern prairie belt groves of aspen, 

 dense and well developed, skirt the water-courses 

 and form an important wood-supply. 



ThS forests of British Columbia partake of the 

 character of the Pacific forest of the United States, 

 the Coast Range with conifers of magnificent devel- 

 opment, including Douglas fir, giant arborvitae, 

 western hemlock, bull-pine and a few others, the 

 Rocky mountain range also of coniferous growth, 

 but of inferior character, large areas being covered 

 with Alpine fir and lodge-pole pine, important as 

 soil cover and for local use in the mining districts, 

 but lacking in commercial value. 



For farm forestry, the southern part of Ontario 

 offers the most promising field, for probably 50 per 

 cent of the farm area would be better under wood. 

 Beginnings of forest planting and woodlot manage- 

 ment have been made here within the last few years 

 with the aid of the Agricultural College at Guelph. 



Fig. 442. 



White oak (Q««rcM« 



alba). 



Fig. 443. 

 Red oak {Quercus rubra). 



Factors in Timber Production. Figs. 424-428. 

 By Raphael Zon. 



Although the growing of wood, inasmuch as it 

 must make use of the soil, is a part of agricultural 

 production, yet it has many dis- 

 tinctive features which justify 

 discussing it independently. A 

 clear understanding of the way 

 in which wood crops grow, and 

 of the factors involved in their 

 production, is essential to an in- 

 telligent treatment of the far- 

 mer's woodlot. 



Three factors are invariably 

 present in the production of all raw materials, — 

 nature, labor, capital ; and it is the way in which 

 these factors are combined in the production of 

 timber crops that distinguishes the latter from all 

 other agricultural crops. 

 While these factors have 

 been brought out in the pre- 

 ceding article, it is impor- 

 tant that we here emphasize 

 certain features, that we 

 may more clearly compre- 

 hend their relation to forest 

 production, and hence to 

 the adaptation of the woodlot to the farm scheme. 



Nature. 



In no other agricultural crop does nature play 

 so prominent a part as in the 

 production of wood crops. In 

 raising field crops the farmer 

 deals, as a rule, with annual 

 plants, tender and highly plas- 

 tic, which have had their 

 original characteristics radi- 

 cally changed in accordance 

 with the needs and wishes of 

 man. In the production of 

 timber, one deals with 

 tree - species, perennial, 

 wild plants, yielding with 

 difficulty to human influ- 

 ence. The long period, often more than a lifetime, 

 required by trees to grow from seed to maturity, 

 prevents man from leaving his impress on them ; 

 while the short cycle of development of agricul- 

 tural plants offers opportunity, 

 year after year, to mould and 

 adapt them to the conditions 

 desired. This explains, to a 

 large extent, why our farm 

 crops are now being widely 

 grown in climates very differ- 

 ent from those of their original 

 home, while only compara- 

 tively few tree-species have 

 been extended beyond the lim- 

 its of their native region. By 

 proper planting or timely thin- 

 ning, to be sure, one can stim- oi,,„w;/hL „~ 



, f" ,, ii. J. i • Snagbark hickoiy 



ulate the growth of trees m imcoria ovata). 



Fig. 444. 

 Scarlet oak 

 ( Quercus 

 coceinea). 



