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and pursued there with the same intention. It is impossible to preserve the extensive 

 Canadian forests from fire without appointing certain rangers, few or many, as may be 

 judged expedient, whose business it shall be to carry out, in this country, as far as their 

 numbers will allow them, the policy pursued in European countries of guarding against 

 fire, giving warning where it occurs, and prosecuting all individuals who infringe the fire 

 laws established by Government. To my own knowledge, the laws enacted by the 

 Ontario Government with reference to the management of fires, their lighting and extin- 

 cuishing, are carelessly observed ; or even altogether ignored in the back districts 

 through which I have travelled. I should, therefore, recommend that a certain number 

 of men be appointed to watch breaches of these laws and institute the necessary 

 prosecutions. 



The East Indian practice to which I refer is this. In the vast Indian forests, under 

 the careful supervision which has been established there by the Indian Government, every 

 efiort has been made to suppress or hold in check what with them is a still more danger- 

 ous enemy than with us, the ignition of the forests. The principal means recommended 

 and used by them is, the cutting of what are called fire lines through the forests for long 

 distances. These lines, it is recommended should be made two hundred feet wide, and be 

 kept quite clear of brushwood, or any other inflammable matter. 



In travelling through different parts of this north-eastern district of Ontario, and 

 having in successive years passed over several hundred miles of it in diflferent directions, 

 I became decidedly of opinion, that the whole country was far better suited for extensive 

 grazing grounds, interspersed with manufacturing villages, than to be given out in one or 

 two hundred acre lots to the ordinary settler. Considering the character of the land, I 

 am of opinion that many ordinary settlers will not be able to give it that care which alone 

 can maintain its fertility ; I fear they will, in many instances, be obliged to overcrop it, to 

 impoverish it, and to abandon it. The granite formation, I fear, will never show the 

 staying qualities of the limestone-founded portions of Ontario. On the other hand, I 

 think if much of this land were given out to men of capital, who would be willing to 

 establish large grazing farms thereon, they would be able to cover the soil with a heavy 

 clover sod, which, with careful management might be maintained for ever. 



I will, then, suggest what would be my plan if some millions of acres of this vast 

 forest were mine, and I were desirous of preserving it from the ravages of fire. I would 

 cut the fire protecting lines, as used in India, through and through it at different points, 

 clearing them thoroughly from brushwood, but I should make them wider, say, a hundred 

 yards broad, and I should suggest that paths a hundred yards broad cut through these 

 forests, and fenced at each side, would make excellent grazing runs for cattle, if <rot under 

 grass, and would operate as most effectual firebreaks. I should think that an arrange- 

 ment might be made whereby graziers would gladly lease these lines, undertake to seed 

 them with grass and use them for the fattening of their cattle, which would readily find 

 water at the numerous streams these firebreaks would necessarily cross. A portion of the 

 consideration paid for the use of these grazing-lines, might well be the undertaking on the 

 part of the grazier to send a certain number of men to extinguish any fire which might 

 arise in his vicinity. In this manner, I conceive that, by the assistance and supervision 



