The Vast Timber Belts of Canada 



509 



Saskatchewan and Alberta you can see 

 groves of trees. The city of Winnipeg 

 in that respect is an example to the cities 

 of the east. The city of Winnipeg has 

 done marvels in the way of tree planting. 

 The streets of Winnipeg today are a 

 credit to that city and would be a credit 

 to even an older city than it is. But 

 there is a great deal to be done in the 

 east, and in that respect perhaps my own 

 Province of Quebec is the greatest sin- 

 ner. 



My own countryman, the French 

 Canadian, is the man with the axe. There 

 is no better man in that respect than he. 

 He goes into the forest, and there is no 

 man who can equal him in forest work; 



but in the meantime he has not been as 

 careful as he should have been in pre- 

 serving the trees in his midst. I should 

 like to impress upon every Canadian 

 farmer the necessity of covering with 

 trees every rocky hill and the bank of 

 every running stream. It is very easily 

 done. He has only to scatter the seeds on 

 the ground, fence it, and nature will do 

 the rest. 



These are some of the questions which 

 I hope will be taken into consideration by 

 yourselves. I do not intend to limit the 

 number of questions which shall be taken 

 into consideration, but these are some to 

 which, with others, I invite the serious at- 

 tention of this convention. 



THE VAST TIMBER BELTS OF CANADA 



A RECENT report on the forests 

 of Canada by U. S. Consul 

 Henry S. Culver, at London, 

 Ontario, gives the following summary of 

 their great dimensions : 



There are three great timber belts in 

 the Dominion : The northern or spruce 

 belt, the southern or commercial belt — 

 both east of the Rocky Mountains — and 

 the British Columbia belt, west of the 

 Rocky Mountains. These belts do not 

 include, however, the forests of the 

 maritime provinces, which are extensive 

 and valuable, covering about one-tenth 

 of the area of Ontario and Quebec, or the 

 forests of New Brunswick and Nova 

 Scotia, which may be compared in a gen- 

 eral way to those of Maine. 



FORESTS OF BRITISH COLUMBIA 



The western or British Columbia belt 

 is far superior to either of the eastern 

 areas, for the reason that the climate, 

 tempered as it is by the warm waters 

 of the Pacific Ocean, promotes a more 

 perfect growth and development of the 

 different species. Here is found not 

 only the valuable red fir or Oregon 

 pine, generally distributed throughout 

 the entire province along the coast and 



on the mountains, but also the red cedar, 

 the western spruce, the yellow cedar, the 

 hemlock, the balsam fir, the western 

 white pine, the western yellow pine, the 

 maple, and the western oak in such quan- 

 tities as to make this the most valuable 

 timber belt on the North American conti- 

 nent. This- belt extends from the forty- 

 ninth parallel north to the sixtieth par- 

 allel, a distance of some 770 miles, and is 

 from 200 to 300 miles wide. The best 

 timber does not extend to the extreme 

 north. That portion is covered with 

 black and white spruce, and constitutes 

 a very extensive pulp-wood range. 



But this region, because of its great 

 distance from the markets in the East 

 and the lack of cheap transportation, will 

 remain comparatively in its primeval 

 state until the eastern forests are nearly 

 exhausted or until better transport facili- 

 ties are afforded. 



THE NORTHERN FORESTS 



The northern belt is perhaps greater 

 in extent than all the other timber belts 

 and reserves of Canada combined. Ac- 

 cording to the best authority, it extends 

 from the eastern coast of Labrador north 

 of the fiftieth parallel in a northwesterly 



