Canadian Agriculture. 
455 
and millions of acres in Ontario and Quebec v.-hicli could be made productive 
timber districts, but which will never be productive agricultural districts." 
In the Province of Quebec, the Laurentian Forest Highlands, 
lying on the north of the St. Lawrence, occupy an area of 
178,000 square miles, the greater portion of which, being fit for 
nothing else, must remain a timber-forest for ever, increasing in 
value as timber becomes more scarce elsewhere. It is capable 
of maintaining a sparse but hardy population in comparative 
comfort by the development of the resources of its mines, and of 
its forests, if cared for and preserved. Another forest-region in 
the Upper Ottawa territory covers an area of some 30,000 square 
miles. On account of its favourable geographical position 
along the banks of a great river, and the unfitness of much of 
its area for other cultivation, the Province of Quebec seems 
destined to remain a timber-yielding and timber-trading country. 
A Committee appointed by the American Forestry Congress, at 
its Montreal Meeting, recommended : — 
1. The reservation of all pine and spruce lands, unfit for settlement, for 
hxmbering purposes exclusively. 
2. The prohibition of the burning of bush by settlers in the vicinity of fir 
trees during the months of May, June, September and October (burning in 
July and August being already interdicted in the Province of Quebec). 
3. The division of the timber country into districts, and the appointment 
of police under a superintendent with magisterial powers, whose duty it shall 
be to detect and punish offenders, and j^rovide for the extinguishment of fires. 
4. The cost of the maintenance of this protection might j^artiallybe met 
by the imposition of a moderate tax on the parties owning or leasing timber 
lands. 
In British Columbia, the southern and western portion is 
a densely wooded country, both mountains and plains being 
covered with thick and stately forests. To the north and east 
there is less timber, and that of inferior quality. The forests of 
economic value embrace an area situated between the Cascade 
range of mountains and the Pacific coast, and extending from 
!at. 49° N. to lat. 55'' N., together with Vancouver and adjacent 
islands, and the Queen Charlotte group. The valuable Douglas 
pine, or red fir, covers that portion of the area indicated which 
extends between the southern boundary and a parallel drawn 
through the north extremity of Vancouver's Island. North of 
this northern line, and including the Queen Charlotte Islands, 
the Douglas fir is largely replaced by yellow cypress, red and 
white cedar, and white pine. The numerous and far-reaching 
inlets along the sea-board afford access to the forests, and greatly 
facilitate lumbering. The interior of British Columbia is but 
sparsely timbered, but the eastern portion, watered by the 
Columbia and Kootenay rivers and their tributaries, contains 
large areas of timber of great commercial value. 
