io8 The National Geographic Magazine 



THE SOUTHERN BELT 



The southern or commercial timber 

 belt spreads over a very wide territory. 

 It comprises that portion of Ontario and 

 Quebec lying between the forty-fifth 

 and fiftieth parallels of latitude and 

 bounded on the east by the St Lawrence 

 River and on the west by the Great 

 Lakes and Manitoba. Great interest 

 centers in this great timber region by 

 reason of its proximity to the manu- 

 facturing centers of the United States 

 and because it contains the most valu- 

 able timber for lumber east of the Rocky 

 Mountains. 



It is not, however, a compact and un- 

 broken belt of first-class timber. Cli- 

 matic conditions seriously interfere with 

 the development and growth of some of 

 the best species of timber that inhabit 

 this region, for none of the best ones 

 extend farther north than the water- 

 shed between Hudson Bay and the Great 

 Lakes, approximately the fiftieth paral- 

 lel of latitude, and many of them find 

 their northern limit far south of this 

 parallel. The composition and extent 

 of this timber belt can be better under- 

 stood by taking a map of the Dominion 

 and tracing its boundaries and noting 

 the northern limit of the most valuable 

 species. The forty-fifth parallel cuts 

 out entirely one very valuable species — 

 the black walnut — whose northern limit 

 of growth is the latitude of the cit} 7 of 

 Toronto, while a few miles north of this 

 parallel is the northern limit of red cedar 

 and white oak. A line drawn from the 

 cit} T of Quebec to Sault Ste. Marie will 

 designate the northern limit of beech, 

 while a line drawn from the northern part 

 of New Brunswick to the north shore 

 of Lake Superior will mark the northern 

 boundary of sugar hard maple. Two 

 other species which have their northern 

 limit within this belt are elm and birch. 



The king of the northern forests is 

 white pine, which has its northren limit, 

 as have also white cedar and red pine, 

 at this fiftieth parallel of latitude. This 

 region is now virtually its only home in 

 the Dominion of Canada. It was at one 

 time supposed that it had a very exten- 

 sive northern range, but Dr Bell states 

 that its distribution is comparatively 

 southern, very little being found north 

 of the fiftieth parallel. 



This belt would furnish an enormous 

 supply of excellent timber but for the 

 destruction wrought by forest fires. 



Dr Bell calculates that about one- 

 third of this territory may be considered 

 as under a second growth up to about 

 10 years of age, one-third as interme- 

 diate, and one-third including trees of 

 ioo years or more, and this applies 

 doubtless to all the forest areas of Can- 

 ada ; to this particular belt, which lies 

 at the very doors of the great manufact- 

 uring establishments of the United 

 States, and is the one foreign timber 

 region upon which we rely, the avail- 

 able supply of first-quality timber is 

 alarmingly limited. 



The Canadian forests have never been 

 called upon to pay the enormous tribute 

 to multiplying industries that our for- 

 ests have ; but they have been decimated 

 by the speculative lumberman and the 

 improvident settler, and ravaged by fire 

 until those which are most accessible 

 bear little resemblance to their primeval 

 state. 



But it is not too late for the Canadian 

 people to preserve what is left of their 

 great timber reserves, and by a vigorous 

 and judicious s}-stem of reforestation, 

 they may be able to meet even r demand 

 for their best timber for a long time to 

 come. They are awake to the respon- 

 sibility, and are taking measures to pre- 

 serve what is left and to reforest the 

 waste places. 



