THE TIMBER RESOURCES AND TIMBER TRADE OF CANADA-Continued. V. Manufacture of Lumber in Canada as shown by Census Returns: 1. Number of Saw Mills in Canada at different periods, as shown by Census 1. Former Timber Regulations in Canada 2. Amounts accrued and collected for Timber Dues, Ground-Rents and Bonuses, in Upper and Lower Canada, during ten years preceding [11.] Order in Council of April 3, 1880, in reference to the Reservation of Pine or Cedar Trees, or both, from sales of Public Lands for a lim- [2.] Area of Lands under Timber license in the Province of Ontario [3.] Details of Revenue from Timber on Crown Lands in the Province of Timber Statistics of the Province of New Brunswick. [1.] Receipts from Crown Lands in the Province of New Brunswick, from 1874 to 1879, showing the actual and relative amount received from (b.) Timber and Sawlogs that passed the Government Slides and 1851 to 1879, inclusive, and the Revenue accrued therefrom.. (c.) Revenue accrued on certain undermentioned works during the last (d.) Number of pieces of Square and Flattened Timber, &c., of each kind, passed the Government Slides and Booms on the Ottawa and [3.] Chambly Canal, including St. Our's Lock (1852 to 1879) VII. Public Works of Canada having relation to the Timber Interest: (J.) Transportation of Forest Products upon the Welland Canal, with the view of showing the movement each way of each class of Prod- ucts between American and Canadian Ports: [1.] Boards and other sawed Lumber in Vessels (1852 to 1879) [2.1 Boards and other sawed Lumber in Rafts (1852 to 1879) [3.] Timber, Square, in Vessels (1852 to 1879). [4.] Timber, Square, in Rafts (1852 to 1879). [5.] Timber, Round or Flatted, in Vessels (1852 to 1879) [6.] Timber, Round or Flatted, in Rafts (1852 to 1879). [7.] West India Staves and Headings (1852 to 1879). [8.] Pipe-Staves and Headings (1852 to 1879). REPORT UPON FORESTRY. In the report upon Forestry, transmitted to Congress near the close of the year 1877, an attempt was made to embody as many practical suggestions and scientific principles as practicable having reference to the important subject of forest-tree planting, the maintenance of supplies, and the future prospects of the country dependent upon this interest. Especial effort was made to include as much as possible relating to approved methods of management, and the various economies that may be applied in industries that find employment in obtaining and in using forest products. Statements were presented showing the measures that had been adopted in the several States tending to encourage the growth of timber, with the text of the laws then in force, and various circulars, regulations, and instructions that had been issued for the guidance of those who might wish to avail themselves of the opportunities thus offered. Particular care had been taken to learn the results of forest-tree planting under the timber-culture acts of Congress, passed in 1873 and 1874, and to gather the opinions of those best qualified to judge as to the operation of these laws, the defects which experience had brought out, and the remedies that, in their judgment, should be applied. In the present report we shall continue our notice of the legislative action of the General Government and of the several States and Territories upon the subject of timber planting, and add various articles having application to the cultivation of woodlands, or relating to the growth of trees. But the particular subject that we have sought to present with fullness, is that of Forestry in its relations to Foreign Commerce. In this, we have resorted to the only source of information in existence, which is the series of annual reports of the Secretary of the Treasury upon Commerce and Navigation, which have been made with scarcely an interruption since the organization of our present form of government under the Constitution in 1789. It is to be regretted that the changes in the headings, which have been made from time to time, prevent us in most cases from following the line of succession of particu lar facts through the whole of this period. Sometimes these changes have been occasioned by modifications in our laws affecting commercial regulations, or by the growth of the country requiring a modification in collection districts, or by changes that have arisen in foreign countries; and so far as they have resulted from these causes they were of course unavoidable. But it would be impossible to excuse the stupidity which, under a pretext of economy in publication, introduced confusion in the report for 1861-262, which continued three years, and then by gradual changes returned to nearly the same classification as that formerly in use. In this, there was an attempt made to generalize, in a manner that essentially impaired the value of these statistics for all practical use, in studying the subject with reference to particular countries or ports of export; as for example, "Great Britain" in place of "England," "Scotland" and "Ireland" in separate columns, and "France and French Colonies" instead of "France" (the Atlantic and the Mediterranean ports separately), and the several French Colonies under their several names. The same condensation was followed by placing entire regions, having several ports of entry and widely different and often competing interests, under one heading, which rendered it wholly worthless for any purpose of local comparison; as for example, "lake ports of New York," including the ports on Lakes Erie, Ontario, and Champlain, and "other ports" in the various States, after giving their principal one. We have ascertained that it would be practicable to subdivide these tables by reference to the records so as to render the classification continuous through the period of confusion, but as this would require more. time and labor than could be given to the work, we present these statistics from the reports as published, as a full compliance with so much of the act of Congress under which these researches are undertaken as requires us to ascertain the amount of "importation and exportation of timber and other forest products." A thorough revision of the timber-culture acts was made in the Fortyfifth Congress, in which some of the more prominent faults which observation had pointed out in our first report were corrected, and the requirement as to area to be planted was reduced from a fourth to a sixteenth part of the whole claim. Those who had begun under the former laws were allowed the benefits of the new one. The density of the plantation was largely increased, viz, from about 300 to 2,700 to the acre, by redu cing the intervals from 12 to 4 feet. The time given to the preparation of the soil for planting was extended one year, by requiring that some crop should be raised or cultivation practiced one year after breaking the sod before planting the seeds or cuttings, and the privileges formerly allowed to those holding homestead claims were for the future withdrawn. The text of the law of 1878, with notes showing the various changes made from the act of 1874, together with the regulations that have been issued by the Commissioner of the General Land Office for the guidance of those who may seek the benefits which it offers, will be found in the following pages. It is too early to know what effect this recent act of Congress may have upon the enterprise which it is designed to favor. These changes are mainly in accordance with the advice given by those who had previously enjoyed the best opportunities for observation, and especially that which required the first plantation to be more dense than what was formerly allowed. The extension of time granted in case of injuries from grasshoppers or extreme drought, which had been added by way of amendment in 1876, was embodied in the revision of 1878. The following is a copy of the act as it now stands: TIMBER-CULTURE ACT OF 1878.1 AN ACT to amend an act entitled "An act to encourage the growth of timber on the Western prairies." Approved June 14, 1878. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the act entitled "An act to amend the act entitled 'An act to encourage the growth of timber on the Western prairies,"" approved March thirteenth, eighteen hundred and seventy-four, be, and the same is hereby, amended so as to read as follows: That any person who is the head of a family, or who has arrived at the age of twenty-one years, and is a citizen of the United States, or who shall have filed his declaration of intention to become such, as required by the naturalization laws of the The changes made in the acts of 1873 and 1874 are indicated by notes. |