SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 
forest to-day, forest policies in most instances having come too late to save the 
necessary area. The result has been that most of the older countries have become 
large importers of timber, and are dependent on two sources of supply. Coun- 
tries like Russia and Scandinavia. that have an excess of forest, and countries 
which have not reached their full development, and where’ forests, in consequence, 
are large in proportion to their population, such as Canada and other British 
Dominions, also countries along the West African coast. 
In those British Dominions, where forests occurred in large areas they were 
naturally regarded by the early pioneer as obstacles to settlement, and were in 
most instances greatly destroyed before a market for the timber was found. 
When an outlet was discovered, and saw-mills and the lumbering business gene- 
rally came to be established, the young nation, that had always regarded the 
forests as its natural enemy, very naturally welcomed this means of clearing the 
land. ‘The mills were to be the forerunner of settlement, and every encourage- 
ment was given to the lumber company to take up large areas of forest and develop 
an export trade. Concessions were granted on terms which we to-day can only 
regard as most genérous; leases were taken by the saw-miller on a practically 
peppercorn rental, and he was regarded almost in the light of a philanthropist. 
Hyen to-day the larger milling companies still take up the attitude that they 
have been, and are, the saviours of the State, and have done it an incalculable 
benefit through the clearing of land, the circulation of money in wages, and the 
purchase of produce. In reality, such concerns have destroyed a large proportion 
of the national wealth by forcing an export market for the timber before the local 
demand had grown sufficiently to absorb the smaller sizes and other timber not 
ordered from overseas. Such timber, through lack of any local market, and the 
impossibility of stacking and storing it, has been burnt. The saw-millers of the 
Dominions were not slow to seize on their opportunities, and soon it was not a 
case of cutting timber on agricultural land to assist land settlement, but cutting 
timber anywhere and everywhere. Their road was made easy for them, for the 
pioneer population continued to encourage them, until finally they became so well 
established, and wielded so strong an influence with local Governments, as to make 
their position unassailable. : 
The forests were treated as mines, whose wealth is exhaustible and not re- 
plenishable, and the science of forestry was lost sight of in the endeavour to saw 
up all the crop in sight. It was often argued, and is to-day in New Zealand, 
that the local timbers grow too slowly, and are not worth any form of conserva- 
tive cutting, but recourse must be had to exotics. Instead of ascertaining the 
actual growth per acre per annum of the forest, and allowing that quantity of 
timber, and that only, to be cut, the whole forest was attacked, and the crop reaped 
as quickly as possible. ‘The unfortunate part is that the saw-miller, in his 
inroadg on the virgin forest, only takes the best of the crop; he chooses all the fine- 
grade mill logs, all the straightest piles for harbor work, and cleanest poles for 
telegraph and other purposes. He leaves the forest in a deplorable state; the 
percentage of over-mature and dying trees, which in a virgin forest is always great, 
is naturally increased; while the best of the timber, which should have made the 
future forests, goes in piles and poles. ‘he fires following the logging opera- 
tions are a further menace, and it is often the case that whole forest regions 
have been destroyed through this cause. ‘Thus, while we see the older countries 
embarking on a policy of careful utilization, under which the forests yield a 
perpetual crop of timber, the young countries, profiting by the older ones’ need for 
lumber supplies, embarked on a system of reckless exploitation. 
The unassailable position of the saw-millers in these new countries continues 
only so long as the timber supply lasts. As soon as there is evidence of the end of ~ 
it being in sight, then the anxiety of the community is aroused, and steps are 
taken to remedy matters. Countries suddenly wake up to the fact that the 
resource which they had looked upon as inexhaustible was practically exhausted, 
and that areas of purely forest country, unfit for any form of agriculture, 
had been laid waste and rendered sterile. When this stage is reached, the 
community frenziedly attempts to remedy matters. It demands of its Govern- 
ment a forest policy, and it, as a rule, gets some sort of legislation entitled 
a Forest Act. A perusal of the history of any of the timber States of the 
American Union will show in its successive stages the evolution of forestry. 
First, destruction of forest for farming purposes; next, destruction of the 
forest by the saw-miller; finally, exhaustion of the forest and the birth of 
02 
