IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I l^|2B 12.5 Ui 1^ |2.2 2.0 Itf Ui 11.25 i U i.8 1.6 /> ^. V /A CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductlons Institut Canadian d« microreproductlons historiques 1980 Technico! Notes / Notes techniques The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Physical features of this copy which may alter any of the images in the reproduction are checked below. L'Institut a microfilm^ le meiileur axemplaire qu'il lui a 6t6 possible de se procurer. Certains d6fauts susceptibles de nuire A la qualitd de la reproduction sont notds ci-dessous. 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Les images suivantes ont dtd reproduites avec le plus grand soin, compte tenu de la condition et de la nettet6 de I'exemplaiee film6, et en conformity avec les conditions du contrat de fllmage. The last recorded frame on each microfiche shall contain the symbol —►(meaning CONTINUED"), or the symbol V (meaning "END"), whichever applies. Un des symboles sulvants apparaTtra sur la der- nldre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbole — »> signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbole V signifie "FIN". The original copy was borrowed from, and filmed with, the kind consent of the following institution: National Library of Canada L'exemplaire film6 fut reproduit grflce d la g4n6ro8it6 de I'itablissement prdteur suivant : Bibliothdque nationale du Canada Maps or plates too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper Iflft hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes ou les planches trop grandes pour dtre reproduites an un seul cliche sont fiimdes d partir de Tangle supdrieure gauche, de gauche d droite et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'im'jges ndcessaire. Le diagramme suivant illustre la mdthode : 1 2 3 1 2 S 4 5 6 AMERICAN FORESTRY CONGRESS. ATLANTA MEETING, 1888. ; (Read December 6th.) FOREST FIRES -IN- NORTHERN CANADA, .BY- ROBERT BELL, B. A. Sc, M. D., LL D. Assistant Director of the Geological Survey of Canada, Royal Commissioner on the Mineral Resources of Ontario, etc. (Beprlnted from the Report of the Forestry Congress, Atlanta Meeting.; WASHINGTON : Gibson Bbob., PamTKBii and UouKBiNnBiia. 1889. ^gf^^mmrm I'OREST FIRES IN NORTHERN CANADA, BY ROBERT BELL, B. A. Sc, M. D., LL. D., AsHiHtant Director of the Geological Survey of Canada, Iloyal Commissioner on the Mineral Resources of Ontario, etc. Northward of the decichioiis and mixed forests of Southern Canada a vast belt of conifers, about seven hundred miles in breadth, stretches for four thousand miles from the eastern coast of Labrador to the Ilocky Mountains, and continues beyond them into Alaska. The northern zone of this bolt consists of black and white spruce and tama- rac, but as we go south these become mixed with Banksian pine, balsam fir, and, in the east, with white cednr, and, finally, with rtd and white pine. Excepting nt;ar the verge of the forest, there is also a greater or less mixture of aspen, rough-barked pop- lar, white birch, and the various northern willows, but in a general way this great belt may bf described as a coniferous forest. Notwithstanding its immense extent, it may be said that fire has run through every part of it at one period or another. Forests of this kind are peculiarly liable to de- struction by tire. The trees are comparatively small, and when they do not stand closely together their branches grow nil the way down to the ground. The open spaces, no matter how rocky, are covered by reindeer mosses, which, in the summer time, are as dry and inflam- mable as tinder, while the deep carpeting of the yellow mosses among the trees them- selves is ecpially dry and helps to give body to the flames. The Indian iMiuter or wild Indian of the North, knowing how destructive forest fires are to the animals on which he depends for food and fur, takes all possible care to pre- vent them, yet if one ascends a high hill in any part of these regions so as to obtain an extensive view of the country he will find the normal condition of the woods to be " patchy," or to consist of areas of second growths of various ages mixed with others of older timber. The latter may have attained to the full growth and yet not repre- sent the original forest, as it has probably sprung up on ground which had been burnt over at a time more remote than would represent the life of any of the trees standing upon it. The writer has crossed the entire breadth of our northern forests in many parts and has found the above condition to prevail everywhere. Knowing the care which the Indians have always exercised, and the fact that the country has not been invaded by white men, the question arises. What has caused these fires which have in turn swept over every part of this enormous country, and not only once, but again and again, since a very early period? My answer is that the con- ditions which we find in our Northern woods could not otherwise have been attained. These fires have had an effect on the formation of the soil, on the rotation of crops of trees, so necessary to their healthy condition, and on the dispersion of seeds. We have both direct proof, and also the evidence of the trees themselves, that forest tires have originated without human agency, and that they have been going on ever since the present species of trees existed, if, indeed, they have not played a part in providing some of their specific characters. Lightning has been the commonest cause of these fires, although in some cases they may have originated from the spontaneous combustion ilue to the decomposition of pyrites, which is known to have set fire to beds of lignite in the Sashkatchewau region. ■^p^ 2 In the Northern States and the inhabited parts of Canada it is not uncommon for lightning to strike barns and houses and to set them on fire in the hot months of sum- mer. This is the season when our Northern forests are dry and ready to burn, and we should naturally expect similar accidents to occur among them with at least equal fre- quency, in proportion to area. Examples have been observed in this region where the fire which has destroyed a large area has been traced back to a tree which had been struck by lightning. With an experience of over thirty summers spent in these woods, I only once actually witnessed a case of this kind. The lightning on this occasion was plainly seen to strike the brink of a wooded bluflf near Red Rock, on Lake Superior, and to set it on fire. Owing to the very small number of human beings in these re- gions, the chances of these occurreuces being witnessed are very few as compared with civilized region'- ; yet the Indians tell mo that thej' frequently happen. On sev- eral occasions I have found forest fires (still of limited extent) burning in totally unin- habited regions and where it was certain that no travellers could have passed for a long time before these fires begun. Among examples of this phenomenon which could be named two were observed on branches of the Albany, one on the Attawapishkat, to the north of it, and one on the Sturgeon river, near Lake Nipissing. Referring to the evidence afforded by the trees themselves that forest fires are natu- ral phenomena, I shall mention the case of the Bauksian pine. The cones of this tree are hard and remain closed as long as the tree lives. The older ones become weath- ered and covered with I'chens, often indicating great age, still adhering firmly to the branch. The tree may fall down and rot and the cones drop from the decayed branches, yet they \sill not open. But should the trees become scorched by a forest fire, they will immediately gape open and the healthy seeds will become scattered far and wide by the wind. It sometimes happens that a second fire follows a previous one after the lapse of a few years. The first conflagration kills the trees and consumes all the foliage and twigs, but leaves the charred trunks and branches standing. It also burns oflF the moss and much of the loamy soil. In time the branches fall off, the smaller roots become rotten, and a gale of wind some day levels all the trunks to the ground. This is called a "fire-fall," and the prostrate trees cover the ground so completely that it is very difficult for the explorer to force his way under or over thom. The second growth may have sprung up before it happened or it may begin to push its way through the tangled mass of falle:^ trees, rendering it almost impenetrable. Should another fire not occur, the second growth, consisting of deciduous trees, will attain its full size, and the fallen conifers gradually rot and disappear. But should a second fire occur during Rome dry summer, everything is swept away, including the upturned dried roots, which burn even more fiercely than the triinks and branches. The young second growth is entirely de- stroyed, and even the loamy part of the soil which may have escaped the first fire, in- cluding all seeds which may not yot have germinated. Only the scanty inorganic portion remains, heavily charged with the ashes of the wood and the loam. It is on ground thus prepared that groves of Banksian pine spring up and flourish. The seeds must have been scattered upon it after the second fire, which had so completely de- stroyed everything organic. The ground thus left remains almost bare for a few years, but at last it becomes pretty well occupied by tho young pines of difi'erent ages as if the sowing process were a gradual one. A few spruces and other trees also spring up. The reason why the Banksian pines are the first to occupy these lifeless areas may be due to the comparative lightness of their seeds and their extent of wing, enabling them to be carried greater distance in the wind or to their finding the excess of potash con- genial to their development. They grow quickly, and in twenty years have attained a height of thirty feet and upwards, while some of their trunks are as thick as a man's thigh. By this time their branches bear a good crop of fresh-looking cones. I have never noticed a case where the seeds of this species germinated within a buried cone, as often happens with the spruce, balsam, &o., resulting in tufts of young seedlings, and 8 all my observations go to show that fire is a necessary condition for the diffusion and maintenance of this tree in the manner above described. The same agency no doubt aids in scattering the seeds of other conifers. It is a well known fact that after a fire has destroyed a coniferous forest the growth which succeeds usually consists principally of deciduous trees. In the country under consideration these are aspen and rough- barked poplars, white birch, pigeon cherry, and willows. After the vegetable loam has been burnt out by a forest fire, a long time must elapse before the soil regains an equal degree of fertility through the falling of leaves and the decay of generations of the small trees which follow, supposing that no new fire occurs to destroy again the accumulated mold and throw everything back to the sterile condition following the original double fire. In the end an increased fertility is probably reached, as the fires and the turning up of the root-bases of the trees all tend to disintegrate the rocky surface. The length of time which has elapsed since a forest fire cannot be accurately ascer- tained, even if we could determine correctly the age of the second-growth timber, as the new crop does not always start up immediately after the fire. In cases where the dates of such fires are known they are found to be several years further back than would be supposed if we judged solely by the new timber. The following is the course of events after a fire has run through a tract of the full-grown northern coniferous forest, the fires always occurring during the driest part of the summer : In the next spring weeds and bushes (raspberrj', huckleberrj', red elder, &o.) begin to spring up and partly oc- cupy the blackened groiind. These increase for two or three years, and as they die out are gradually replaced by the poplars, white birch, pigeon cherry, willows, Ac, with a few conifers. The willows and pigeon cherry are short lived. The poplars at- tain their full size and decay in about seventy years, and the white birch shows signs of old age in less than one hundred years. In the meantime the proportion of conifers is constantly increasing from new individuals springing up, so that by the time the deciduous trees have died out the ground has become completely occupied by the for- mer. The shade afforded by the latter causes the trunks of the spruces, tamaracs, &c., to grow tall and straight. It may be hero remarked that in the northern regions re- ferred to the tamarac grows everywhere on the dry ground, along with the spruces, poplars, &o. From a very extensive personal knowledge of the condition of the forests of Northern Canada, I am able to state that fires have become more and more frequent as we approach the present time. The areas of the "bruits" of different dates may be said to be greater in proportion to their recentness. Various causes may be assigned for this increasing frequency of forest fires. The starting of a fire by the Indians of more than a hundred years ago, or before the introduction of modern methods, must have been a somewhat difficult matter. They probably obtained sparks by striking together pieces of iron pyrites as the Eskimos do at the present day, or ignited dry pounded woody fibre by means of wooden friction machines worked by a bow and string ; and occasionally they may have availed themselves of fires originated by lightning. The most primitive Indian families I have met with paid great attention to keeping alive the fire they possessed, and carried it on their travels in old kettles, fed at frequent intervals by little dry sticks. The means of obtaining fire have been rendered much easier by the introduction of steel to be used with flint and punk, and of gunpowder by which to ignite rags, «fcc., in their flint-lock guns, but above all by lucifer matches. The Indian, or for that matter the white man, who is fortunate enough to possess a stock of matches, when in the woods, very often avails himself of this easy means to make a smudge to keep off the mosquitoes, to light bis pipe, dropping the burning match, or to make a little fire in order to boil his kettle and refresh himself with a hot drink. The number of tire-sotting travellers has greatly increased in comparatively recent times. These include fur traders, missionaries, surveyors, explorers, proKpectors, «tc. and, nearer to civilization, railway builders, common-road makers, lumbermen, bush-rangers, and settlors. A fire may be set at a time of tbo year when it will not run, bnt it is astonishing how long it will smolder in the deep moss and under logs and roots, until after weeks, or even months, a dry time comes and a favoring galo of wind will fan it into activity and cause it to burn up a whole country side. The heaviest rains and the snows of a whole winter sometimes fail to extinguish or smother these smoldering fires. In the course of my travels, during the last twenty summers, in the country be- tween the great lakes of the St. Lawrence and James' Bay, and between the Winnipeg basin and Hudson's Bay, forest fires were raging in some part of the area traversed each year, and indeed they may be said to be almost chronic. In all directions tracts of greater or less extent are burnt every year. We would frequently travel for long dis- tauoes on rivers and chains of lakes along whose banks and on the hil's and level lands beyond them, as far as the eye could reach, nothinfi; could be seen bnt the naked and blackened trees left by the fires of the same or previous season : or it might be the equally dreary gray or bleached and shining trunks remaining from thi; fires of previ- ous years, and from which all the bark had dropped off. Even many miles away from one of these fires the smoke would be so dense as to completely hide the shore and islands of the lakes we were passing through, so that we were obliged, as it were, to feel our way along. On these occasions it became impossible to carry on surveying operations, which had to be either abandoned or left for a future opportunity. The sun in the cloudless sky above would appear only as a dull red ball ; burnt leaves and thin films of ashes would settle slowly to the earth like large flakes of snow, and the thick smoky air, after a time, became unpleasant for respiration and depressing to the spirits. This state of things might continue for days, but in the course of a few hours, a change in the wind, especially if followed by rain, might clear the atmosphere and we would be able, for the first time, to view the country into which we had penetrated blindfold. Should one of these fires occur early enough in the summer, the newly killed trees are quickly attacked by the boring beetles, but if lati! in the season, the borers opera- tions are mostly postponed till the next year. These insects, finding such constant and almost unlimited feeding grounds, swarm in the " bru^ j.i " of the great coniferous forests of the North, and here, in a still evening, the creaking noise of the millions of th«ir larvje may be heard for considerable distances in all directions. Taking the whole of the groat region last referred to, it is probably not too high an estimate to place the recently burnt i)ortions at one-third of the entire area and the portions covered by small second growths at another third, leaving only one-third as original forest and large second growth. When wc; consider the highly inflammable nature of these forests in summer and the constant danger to which they are then ex- posed, it is a wonder that even this proportion has escaped the flames. It would be in- teresting and useful to show on a map the recently biirnt areas and those occupied by the second growth of different ages, each to include, say, those of everj' twenty years, and I think I have the necessary data to enable me to do a large i>art of this work with suflicicnt accuracy for practical purposes. The modern Indians, even in these northern wildernesses, have become every year more and more dependent upon the white man, and they rely less upon the resources of the country for the means of making a constant living than did their forefathers, who appear to have been a more thoughtful and independent class of men. In the coiirse of the extensive travels in the North above referred to, I have tiiken every op- portunity as a Government officer to warn the natives to be more careful about allow- ing the woods to catch fire, and on revisiting certain districts, after a few years, I have found that my advice had been followed, and that forest fires had not been nearly so common as proviouslj'. One of the reasons for the growing frctpiency of forest fires is that the Indians travel more than they did formerly (and thus make more fires than when they were accustomed to stay longer in one place), along with the fact that they are less careful to extinguish them when they are not on or near their own hunting 6 gronnds. It gives thern some trouble to pnt out a are completely when they leave a cftmp, or where they mny have stopped to cook a meal or gum their canoe by the way, and an Indian will seldom do anything except by necessity. In the course of my own journeys I often hire Indians to travel with me only for limited distftnces, sending them back when I find fresh ones to take their places. In this way a considerable number gen- erally come under my influence in the course of a season. I always take great pains to make these men extinj^uish all our fires, and instruct them to keep uj) the practice, even in their own interest, after they leave me. The tires for cooking breakfast or dinner are only allowed to be kindled on bare rocks or on the beach, where there is little danger of their spreading, and those which we are obliged to make in the woods for our camp at night are always carefully dug out and drenched with water and the moss all around saturated before leaving. On account of the tire burrowing under the dry moss, it is seldom completely extinguished by merely throwing a few kettlesful of water upon the brands. It retpiires to be dug out with sharp sticks, otherwise it will go on smolder- ing until a favorable opportunity allows it to burst into tiame. As an additional pre- caution, I camp as often as possible upon small islands. In spite of all this caro my party was once the unwitting cause of burning the woods on an island in the Nelson river. We had made our mid-day tire on a wide surface of sloping rock near the edge of the river and a considerable distance from the woods, and afterwards threw the brands into the water, as usual, and dashed some kettlesful all over the place where the tire had been. But on our return, two or three weeks afterwards, we found that a spark must have fallen unnoticed into the dry moss and loam of a long narrow crack in the rock, which ran up to the edge of the woods, for we saw that the tire had fol- lowed this, like a train of gunpowder, and that on reaching the bush the wind had fanned it into flame. Itotten coniferous wood, when thoroughly dry and broken up, or pulverized, is particularly tenacious of fire, aud it appears to seize eagerly on every spark that fulls amongst it. It requires to be thoroughly blended with water before one can be certain that even some floating piece may not be alight in its centre. Let us try to picture the conditions under which the great forest fires of Northern Canada take place. A whole country-side, of practically unlimited extent, is densely clothed with conifers, mostly spruces, balsam, tamarac, and Banksian pine. The trees are crowded so closely together that their branches touch or intermingle. The ground is deeply covered with dry moss. After prolonged hot weather and drouth the moisture becomes thoroughly dried out of the gummy leaves and branches, leaving the resin and turpentine ready for ignition. All the conditions are now present, and only await a spark of fire to give rise to one of the wildest scenes of destruction of which the world is capable. When the fire has once started, the pitchy trees burn rap- idly ; the flames rush through their tops and high above them with a roaring noise. Should the atmosphere be calm, the ascending heat soon causes the air to flow in, and after a time the wind acquires great velocity. An irresistible front of flarae is soon developed, and it sweeps forward, devouring the forest before it like the dry grass in a ruuning prairie tire, which this resembles, but on a gigantic scale. The irregular line of fire has a height of a hundred feet or more above the trees, or two hundred from the ground. Great sheets of flame appear to disconnect themselves from the fiery torrent and l»ap upward and explode, or dart forward, bridging over open spaces, such as lakes and rivers, aud starting the fire afresh in advance of the main column, as if impatient of the slower progress which it is making. These immense shootmg flames are probably due to the large quantities of inflammable gas evolved from the heated tree to^js just in advance of actual combustion, and they help to account for the almost incredible speed of some of the larger forest fires, one of which was known to run about 130 miles in twelve hours, or upwards of ten miles an hour. The wild animals appear to understand the significance of the roaring noise and the clouds of smoke in the sky in advance of these conflagrations and far ahead of the actual flames ; the terrified deer, bears, wolvo^, and lynxes may be seen fleeing for their 6 lives, followed by multitudes of the small fur-bearing animals, hares, &c., all of which are, however, soon overtaken and destroyed. Should the larger creatures be so fortu- nate as to reach a lake or river in time, they may escape along with the beavers, musk- rats, and otters, which seldom stray far from the water ; but it not infrequently hap- pens that bears and other animals, which have been roasted in these fires, nre found and eaten by the Indians after they have passed over. The birds flutter up in confu- sion in advance of the wall of fire and appear to drop back into the flames. Human beings sometimes perish in these catastrophes, as happened to a number during the surveys for the Canadian Pacific Railway. Should the smoke be carried by the wind in such a direction that one of these fires may be witnessed at night, the scene is one of the grandest which it is possible to imagine, and may be compared to the burning of a great city with a line of fire ex- tending far out of sight. The feeling of distant solitude, combined with the view of such wide-spread destruction, gives the mind an impression of weird grandeur which can scarcely be conceived under any other circumstances. In the more southern districts of Canada, where the timber consists largely of white and red pine, the character of the forest fires is somewhat different, being less rapid and not so complete in its effects. This is owing to the more open nature of both the timber and its foliage, the trees growing further apart and having almost naked trunks, and also to the circumstance that they are generally mixed with deciduous trees, all of which prevent the fire from acquiring such a strong body as in the coniferous thickets of the north. Still, fires are sometimes moderately extensive in the pine woods and de- stroy large quantities of these more valuable timber trees. I do not propose to go into the question of how far, if at all, these great forest fires affect the rain-fall in our northern districts. Only accurate observations on the ground and extending over a long period of years could determine the matter satisfactorily. It is worthy of remark, however, that around most of the lakes ancient water-marks may be seen on the rocks high above any which have been reached for a great length of time, as proved by the growths of lichens. But it is possible that this may be due to per- manent loweriugs of these lakes by the gradual deepening of their outlets. Let us now proceed to make some kind of calculation of the quantity of available fuel which is destroyed in a given area by a northern forest fire, apart from any further value which the coniferous trees of the north may have as timber for local purposes or for export. An acre of the old or original forest, of the character already described, or of the full-size second growth, would produce on an average twenty to thirty cords of good wood in addition to the branches and roots, as compared with fifty or sixty cords which might be obtained from an acre of heavy hard-wood bush. Taking into account both the older and the younger second growths of these regions the average might not produce more than at the rate of ten to fifteen cords per acre. Still, at the low estimate of fifteen cords for the average of the old timber and second growths, each square mile (640 acres) would yield 9,600 cords. If we now take a comparatively small portion of our vast northern coniferous forest, say an area the size of Great Britain, or 80,000 square miles, it may safely be said to bear 854,400,000 cords of good wood. The poi)uIation of all Canada from the Atlantic to the Pacific is about five millions, the greater number of whom live in the milder parts ; but supposing that an average of twenty cords of this fuel, per family, would be required for a year's consumption and that there are one million families, we have here suflicieut fuel for all domestic purposes for a period of upwards of forty-two years, or till a new crop, affording an equal quantity, could be grown ; so that if properly protected from fire, this limited area is capable of supplying a population of five millions of people with abundance of fuel to warm their houses and cook their food for all time. A much smaller area must neces- sarily have served all the wants of the more numerous British people themselves, both for fuel and other purposes, before they discovered the use of mineral coal, as a large proportion of the island was either cultivuted, or under forests which were never out down for fuel ; and again, open or rocky country, like much of Scotland and Wales, must also be taken into account. Our northern forest-belt is more than thirty times as extensive as Great Britain, and it is probable that, at the rate of destruction which has been going on in recent years, more than a thirtieth part of it, or an area equal to England, Scotland, and Wales, is burnt off annually; or, in other words, we are losing every year ns much fuel as would supply the domestic wants of the whole Dominion for nearly half a century. Can anything be done to prevent or lessen this terrible waste ? One would naturally suppose that this question would be looked upon as of the tirst importauce by the peo- ple of Canada, as a similar one is regarded in Scandinavia, more especdally when we consider that almost the whole of this enormous area is destitute of coal or lignite, and that its greatest industry, if it is ever to be populated at all, will be the mining and re- duction of metals, in both of which operations much wood is required, besides what may be wanted for domestic and other purposes. Yet our people never appear to give the matter a thought, and indeed the subject is seldom even mentioned. LaM-s against the wilful or negligent starting of tires in the woods have been placed on the statute- books of the organized provinces, in which some kinds of timber have a present com- mercial value, b\it these ordinances have practically little effect, as no adequate pro- vision is made for their enforcement. Besides the laws themselves, we retjuire the necessary machinery to carry them out. What is wanted is a proper mmiber of paid officers or forest guardians, each with a staff of men, whose duty it would be to look after the timber districtd, whether belonging to the Crown or leased as limits to the lumbermen. These officers and their men should have power to arrest or laj' informa- tion against persons suspected or known to have wilfully or by their negligence set fire to the woods. As matters now stand, many guilty persons are allowed to escape through the reluctance or fear which disinterested or private individuals may have in regard to informing agaiust them. It is not to be expected that a private citizen will voluntarily assume the odium, trouble, expense, and loss of time necessary to do what is as much the duty of every other member of the community for the general good of the country. The work would not be so unpleasant in the hands of a paid government oflBcer clothed with ample authority. Lumbermen are often blackmailed by bad characters whom they have been obliged to dismiss from their service and whose movements they can- not always watch, but who they know uild be very apt to set fire to their limits for the sake of revenge. The forest guardians should keep an eye not only on such per- sons, but even on careless Tndiaus, explorers, and bush-travellers generally. These officers, and also the head men of all the lumbering establishments in the woods, should be empowered to call out every man within reach to fight forest tires when they break out. Our tish and game laws are also, to a great extent, a dead letter from a similar want of executive force, and it would probably be found advantageous also to utilize the services of the forest guardians in assisting to carry them into effect. In Scandinavia, where the preservation of the forests is regarded as of vital impor- tance, the laws against setting them on fire are very severe. Any jierson who may have caused a forest fire, whether by "accident" or otherwise (no accidents being recognized in connection with this matter), is held liable for all he is worth toward making good the damage, and he is imprisoned besides. Under these circumstances forest fires are very rare. The climate of Scandinavia in summer is more damp than ours, and lightning is less frequent, so that strict forestry regulations are more urgently required with us. Laws of much less severity than those referred to, if they coTild be uniformly enforced in Canada, would soon have an appreciable effect in pre- venting the wholesale destruction of valuable standing timber which is going on to such an alarming extent in this country.