The Application of Scientific and Practical
Arboriculture to Canada.

By Wm. Brown, D.L.S.C.E., Professor of Agriculture, Ontario
Agricultural College and Experimental Farm.

Synopsis of a Paper read before the British Association for the Advancement
of Science, Montreal, Anffust* 1884.

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The Application of Scientific and Practical
Arboriculture to Canada,

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Paper by Prof. Brown of the Ontario Agricultural College.

Is there any country whatever that has made
an eminent agricultural history and does not
MOW complain of want of trees ?

Advanced nations are not discussing the
worth or worthlessness of trees in their rural
economy ; they are considering how bf?st to
•ecure the fullness of the value thereof in all
their bearings. In doing this much serious
consideration is necessary. It would be very
unwise for any country to i u.sh into extensive
tree planting without a clear idea as to how the
work should be begun, carried out and main-
tained. It is my purpose briefly in this paper
to show what Canada can do in the scientific
and practical application of arboriculture, and
before handling the subject as a forester, allow
me to submit some general views.

Canadian forestry will have no place in all its
Bcientific and practical value vuitil one of two
things be accomplished : One is the conviction
on the part of her farmers of the necessity of
conserving and replanting, therefore, their
education up to these; and the other is the
power by Government to resume parts of the
country for conserving and replanting. Both
will be difficult. The former would be the slower
but eventually the most thorough because of
Belf-interest ; the latter would be more imme-
diate and possibly less efficient, practically,
though scientifically better applied. No large
number •£ vwrious interest* could be so well

arranged as by a company, and therefore Gov
ernment, as a company, will have to become
foresters in all the many details of the
profession.

Much of our indifference in this subject
arises from the common idea thr t the planter
cannot himself personally hojK) to receive all
the benefits from the conservation of the present
trees, and particularly from replanting. Amer-
ican returns, to the American, must be smart,
strong, and undoubted ; the i«Jeaof fjermanency
in the long after years does not concern us r,3
much as now. In Europe it takes a shape that
may never be realized here, because of one
thing— that one thing is large propriet;)ry, the
possessing within one man's power all the area
and class of soil suitable to profitable produc-
tion on a large scale, so that even that one
man can employ officers and men in such num-
ber as make profits certain. Cultivated Canada
meantime is so sub-divided as to preclude all
idea of sufficient massing of woods to receive
equal results with Europe,— but the day may
come, and meantime progress; must l)e made
otherwise.

I belie>e it it the experience of the world,
that more difficulty, in various forms, is found
in reclothing with trees where trees grew before,
than it is to plant, not replant, a country for
the first time. There is not only the practical
f»ct of Bucwseion of cropping in its scientific

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and natural bearings, as similarly realized for
example in the products of the field, but the
more serious one of the indifference of those
who cut the first crop. Most of us think of
trees as means of shelter, under several forms.
We like shelter for buildings, shade for oursel
ves, shelter and shade for animals in the field,
and shelter tor farm crops. These alone would
make up a large value in any district where
required, and would justify all the cost and
Bubrteciuent attendance. Yet we have another
aspect of the question that takes an equally
strong place in our regard : Climate is not
alone a matter of great outside causes, but one
intimately related to local influences, among
which trees are pre-eminent. We have no time
to show how temperature, rainfall, moisture,
and evaporation are directly influenced by a
small or large surface of trees, and how, therefore,
water is largely in the hands of trees for local
distribution. This second duty of forestry as
a science and practice would even seem to
swallow up the previous question, and is conse-
quently inducement alone to its prosecution on
our part. Were neither of these sufficient,
however, to convince, the third great reason for
tree cultivation will sxirely convert even the
most American amongst us. It is no matter of
doubt, under average conditions, in any coun-
try, that tree culture is more profitable as a
crop than its own agriculture, year by year.
This position is not open to question, but clear
and marked in all experience where age has
given time for proof. The area of trees in
Canada is not an unknown thing in the older
districts, and it is not true that it is poorly
wooded in comparison with other coimtries.
The United States can show twenty-five, and
Canada nearly fifty per cent, of the cultivated
districts as still under trees. This is possibly
larger than any other continent, if we except
the northern part of Europe, where agriculture
is necessarily at a discount, and where forest is
practically untouched. The cause of our dis-
content then is not want of forest per nation
but its regular distribution to subserve all the
needs of the nation.

The existing condition of our forests is the
very first consideration in this enquiry. Out-
side of the lumbering interest, which of itself
is simply a taking without system, there is
no enclosing, preserving, caretaking, or conser-

ving in any sense except the right of individual
ownership, some of whom do act the forester,
but nationally there is nothing recognized.
The average " bush " of North America is a
beautiful sight at:J yet a sad one. The artist
must revel in its variety of form and foliage,
but the fighting for place, the smothering and
rotting for want of light and air can only be
estimated by those who are scientifically and
practically foresters, I do not mean that our
forests in every case should be managed sin)ilarly
to those in Europe, because much of our best
timber requires very different conditions, but
similar pri: ciples ought to guide our manage-
ment.

There are really no fiirures to give as to the
extent of Canadian forest, either as to gross
area or special kinds of timber The small map
recently issued by Dr. Bell, of our geological sur-
vey, gives a good idea of the northern limits of
the i)rincipal trees, but, of course, it cannot help
in either of the particulars named. As the
country, with the -exception of prairie, was
originally all forest and as we have cleared
about 25,000,000 of acres for agrictiltural pur-
poses, it may be said that the whole country
is still under trees with these exceptions. What
the extent is to a million acres nobody knows,
nor do a million acres one way or the other
affect our subject.

We have four distinct fields of operation in
the future of Canadian forestry: Ist. The
untimbered lands such as prairie. 2nd. The
older cleared portions. 3rd. The recent forest
settlements, and 4th the untouched forest.
Each of these will require different methods as
to conserving, clearing and replanting, although
all will be subject to one grand system of
operations. To submit details now would be
unnecessary when the object is to impress
principles.

But yet another aspect of the question is the
requisite proportions of tree surface to that
under farm crov)s. What f hould it be ? This is just
one of the things that we do not know and that
we are not likely ever to know as a point for
general practical guidance. When I had the
honor of ad^^ressing the British Science Associa-
tion, at Dundee, in 1807, and at Norwich,in
1868, upon the claims of arboriculture as a
science they knew little upon this point in a

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APPLICATION :

POSITION, OUTLINE, AREA.

A.— Road Side Shade.

B.— Shelter for DweUinga.

C— Shelter for Anir,uilt—Two Fields.

D. — Shelter for Open Orazinga.

E.— Shelter and Water to Four Fielda,

F. —Shelter for Farm Crops.

0.~Head Water Plantationa.

H.— Great Wind Breaks.

J. — Lesser Wind Breaks.

K. — Sub wind breaks,

L.— Conjoint Wind Break and Climaiic

Plantation.
M,— Great Climatio Plantation.

DIAGRAM TO ILLUSTRATE PRC

THE APPLICATION

or

Scientiuc aud PrLctlcal Arboriculture
To CANADA.

I OBJECTS ;

2. — Hood-aide Shade.

i. — Shelter for Dwellings.

3, — Skelter for L(ir(jc Grazings,

4. — Shelter for Agricultural Crops

5, — Climatic A melioration.

6,—Bevenuc from Wood Sales.

VS PAPER ON ARBORICULTURE,

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country possessing greater physical dis^.inctions
than Canada. The conditions are so various as
aflfected by climate, altitude, latitude, aspect,
soil, sea or lake neighborhood and vegetation,
that no possible number of observations in any
length of time could say how much for one
district or so much for another. However, men
do come to realize through science and practice
— practice espeaially — that a farm or district
needs the protection in certain places, and thus
a country could easily be reclothed to the extent
required for such shelter, if not for regulation
of climate and other considerations', to which
we will soon refer. The point then of immediate
sheltir is within everybody's knowledge, and
needs no scientific guidance, and I may here say
no governmental spurring. But the greater fieltl
of climate as an unknown one practically in this
relation, is more a national problem, and still
very much a scientific inquiry, and what it will
have to say in regard to the proportion of trees
to farm crops no one can tell. Of course if men
disregard everything but the direct profits from
trees as a crop upon land, another century may
actually find some countries going back to the
days of too many leaves and too little arable.
Viewing trees in all their re'ations I am of
opinion that upon an average of conditions in
Canada, one-fourth of the surface should be
covered by them, and as this is just one-half of
what we have at present all over the forest dis
tricts, there rests the apparent inconsistency of
wanting to conserve and replant all the while
that we possess double what is required. This
brings out the fact that it is the irregular dis-
tribution of tree surface in our case which gives
trouble, — that some parts have more than re-
quired, and others have been overcleared.

As the subject grows upon our attention, we
are next concerned i/ith what parts of the
country should be conserved or replanted, and
in th 8 part of the study it is obvious that our
views cannot be confined to single farms or even
special sections. Referring as we must to the
great overruling influences, as previously indi-
cated, we have to deal with geographical features
that may embrace thousands of acres
that h*ve to be subserved with one or more
massing of trees. Just where to conserve or
replant, how much on the spot or spots, so as to
gather and dispense all the virtues that trees are
known to possess, is the great problem of the

future. To say that we should only replant our
less valuable soils is nonsence, though apparent-
ly sensible enough from an agricultural stand-
I)oint ; that hi;(h lands should be conserved or
reclad as against lower parts is largely true,
though not generally applicable, and that
conserving and replanting must go hand in
hand and take place anywhere as found best
through exi)erience, is correct in every sense.

Following this view of the subject there is
naturally that of suitability of certain kinds of
trees for special purposes. We have soils and
climates wherewith to do almost anything in
tree life from the pine of the far north, which
luxuriates in an apparently bare rock cleft, to
the walnut of the south, that must send its
carroty root several feet into a rich soil. The
preparation of the soil, methods of planting, in-
cluding fencing, draining, knowledge of enemies
and friends in nature, and all the management
throughout, in order to attain the highest
results are not for our time on this occasion.

In connection with this branch of the subject,
however, allow me to present to the Association
some copies of a list of trees which I use in
teaching at our College, and classified similarly
to those in Loudon's work.

And now for the more special purpose of
these notes, — and in order to place myself prop-
erly with the Association, it is fair, as a matter
of business, to note that what I am advancing
is founded on British experience, beginning in
18.54 and ending 1870, during which time I had
the immediate control of the formation, the
planting, and subsequent management of some-
thing like twenty one millions of trees, prin-
cipally on the Seafield estates, in Banff and
Invernesshire, and the Invercauld estates in
Aberdeenshire.

In order to success anywhere there must be
put in operation, upon a system, such a combin-
ation of the scientific and practical knowledge
that at present exists as shall most likely bring
about the fullest realization of tree value. That
system is universal m its application, however
small or large the scale, or however varied the
conditions. Whether we pull down or rebuild,
or make entirely new, the system will apply,
and as it is by entirely new work that any sys-
tem is best exhibited I will ask you to go with
me to the Prairie, The subject then is almost

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an entirely treeless one, with an undulating,
but generally uniform level surface, an occasion-
al ridge, a lake, a river, cutting deep through
the unshaded land, and bounded on the north-
west by high lands as I have outlined on the
map. H^re, men need never hope to gather
wealth of agriculture in all its branches without
the help of trees. I think there exists nowhere
in the world an example of universal fannimj
reliability unattenaed by trees. I see no great
futuie for Manitoba and our Northwest unless
extensive systematic forestry precedes. The
sooner our Government realizes this the better.
All methods of farming, railway and water
communication, minerals, natural grazing, or
any other form of good things will never "make"
a country without trees. We are not theorisinf,'
in this. A peopled agricultural country is an
impossibility without trees.

In our treeless region, therefore, experience
has made us acquainted with a variety of wants
that can be subserved by trees, and science
points to more. Together then they make up a
bill that may be thus summarised :

1. Roadside shade.

2. Shelter for dwellings.

3. Shelter ror cultivated farm crops.

4. Shelter for open natural grazings.

5. Shelter for enclosed grazings.

6. Head water conservation.

7. Wind breaks.

8. Climatic amelioration.

Either of these would of course serve more
purposes than that implied by its name, but a
full illustration of the system requires a form
for each.

Now this map professes to show all these :
from the single shade tree up to the great
climatic plantation, the area or district embraced
and the size of each of the classes would be sub-
ject to requirements, from one acre to as much
as 1,000 acres each ; the system or principle is
not affected by size, but, position and form,
or outline, are prime factors.

Size would be regulated by the particular
physical features of the district and the object
in view ; form by prevailing winds as well as
the particular object and partly by physical
features.

In our prairie example on the map we have a
farm of 160 acres made up as follows ;

Timber . . 30 acres

Cultivated 125 "

Orchard, garden, buildings,road8.. 5 *'

Total 160 "

The fields and roads lie northwest and south-
east, and therefore also northeast and southeast.
By preference the buildings are situated on the
southern angle of the farm at a junction of a
a concession and a side road. In

the first place the roads are lined with shade
trees, which serve as shade to animals in some
of the fields as well. Then the dwelling house
and orchard while open to the southeast, south,
and southwest, are shaded by ornamental
standards and lined on the north and northwest
by trees. This tree line may be called the 2nd
sub-wind break of the farm. The bams with
two small fields or paddocks, are also open to
the south and piotected from" the colder winds
by a narrow belt of timber in positions similar
to the others. The six other fields are, in the
first instance, sheltered by a bioad belt all
around from the east, via north, to the west,
capable of breaking and mellowing the whole
' farm for cropping. 15ut, for live stock, under
such circumstances, and with twenty acre fields
it is necessary to provide other shade and
shelter. This is best supplied by what I have
proved in actual practice both in Scotland and
Canada. I know of no better form and position
of a shade and shelter clump of t'-ees than
that illustrated in Fig. C, and the position of
which is also shown in our farm example. It
serves two fields, and from whatever direction
the wind comes, or the sunshines, the animals
can find a retreat in either field. You cannot
shoot a straight line across this clump and not
find a safe corner.

Then, in the adaptation of one form of shelter
to four fields (Fig K) is neat and serviceable,
and when supplied with water in the centre is a
very valuable acquisition to ijastures. In the
case of extensive open grazings, the circular
belt (Fig. D) is also best for various reasons. It
resists and breaks wind storms better than
other outlines ; it is less liable to damage by
cattle or wind, is more compact and affords
more outside shelter. There should be two
passages not far apart and facing south as much
as possible ; one passage is not enough with a
large number of cattle going and coming, and

provision is necessary for a stack of hay in the
antra.

These are 'what may be called the purely
agricultural divisions of arboriculture, and are
definite and practical enough, upon which little
difference of opinion is likely to arise. In what
remains of my subject there may be not only
difference of opinion in regard to details, but
considerable difficulty in satisfying that
anything more is needed than what has already
been sketched. It will be said : As each
farm has its proi)er amount of shade, shelter,
fuel i-upply, and even wood revenue otherwise,
what more does the country require '!

I have not seen in any work on rural economy
that it is as much the duty of nations to
administer their arboriculture as their laws of
5 health. Tlien while everyone acknowledges
that without the proi)er measue of trees there
cannot exist the proper health, political economy,
science, agriculture and all society, is equally
interested in this question, and as I have al-
ready indicated its national aspect, it is onli'
necessary to point out how more than the
immediate farmer's work is required.

Over a great plain, such as our prairie, where
storms rage unchecked, where rains come and
go irregularly and uneconomized in any form,
and where sunshine is unmellowed, it is neces-
sary to establish agents for the purpose of sub-
serving these and other climatic purposes.
Assuming that all the country were planted to
the extent already shown for immediate farm
use, there exists nothing in particular spots, —
no plantations exactly placed to conserve head
water streams, no great and small wind breaks,
and no great climatic plantations, — the agents
respectively.

On the map these are shown in position,
proper outline and extent. Pusition is regulated
by elevation and neighborhood of other physical
conditions, sucli as water surface, and high
land ; outline is regulated by direction of pre-
vailing winds, conformation of surface, and
partly by public roads, while the extent is
directed by the indefinateiy known infiuence
that a certain body of trees poesesi T/gi clii'iate ;
climate being understood ut dit-ti'bution or
rainfall, evaporation, natural drainage, and tem-
perature.

I am aware that we cannot reason on this
from any clear or precise experience, and are
driven to draw c(mclusions from actual facts,
and there seems to be no doubt that it requires
a certain massing and kinds of trees to ameliorate
climate, narrow strips and clumps being insuf-
ficient, or incapable of doing so.

Head water plantations, as implied in the
name, must surround, or be in the immediate
neighborhood of, sourcts of streams, and have
an outline to nurse them, with area consistent
to the importance of the source. The circular
form is good and applicable to the two springs
at G., or it may Iw oval as illustrated at the
mouth of the valley, and would also take the
jmsition and area of that at the small lake.

(ireat wind breaks being meant to fend the
smaller plantations as well as i)articular districts,
have to be carefully outlined, of very considerable
extent, and must command an exact position.
In the example of H. on the ridge, which is
designed to break the storms from the adjoining
ranch, several points are noticeable : The land
occupied by the plantation is within one block,
or range of roads, and therefore does not
encroach ; it occupies also part of a ridge that
generally is less valuable for agricultural
purposes, it is formed to cut or feather the
storms that prevail in the district— south west
by west— a point in forestry of very great
importance indeed ; it is massive or in sufficient
body to resist and break, and it is 30 situated
main force of the storms. It may be remarked
that it would be better to extend the plantation
eastward ujjon the ix)int of the ridge, this T
have avoided in order to make the example
more difficult.

The other great wind break is of a different
form, while serving a similar purpose. It
parallels with the public roads, makes no awk-
wark corners for cultivation of adjoining land,
faces prevailing winds with the exception of
southeast end, and will protect a large area o(
country.

Lesser wind breaks, as at J., are placed
where, either by the form of the country on the
prevailing wind lidi, or where a larger break is
dilfituU to ehtcbl.sh. The example on the east
of the ?c.rgj lake exhibits both. Position here
is very important t.nd it will be observed that
cutlinc ano ar"u aa arranged to receive th«

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Bto.^9 across the lake, break them, and yet
yield them.

Sub wind breaks are easily arranged and can
take various forms and sizes to suit conditions
as at K.

Another kind of plantation, as already ^ 'er-
red to, is that which I call climatic, — the objects
of which have been explained. Their position
in a country among others is not so easily
reasoned, either scientifically or practically.
Area is obviously of more consequence than
form, because it requires a great field of leaves
to do what leaves are said to do in climatic
amelioration. M. with eight sides, and the
other with four, are designed as concentrated
masses adapted to Canada, and of course in
their case, more than other plantations, the cost
of establishment would be less per acre, and
would also better meet the item of revenue.
L. is an example of a conjoint-wind break and
climatic plantation.

Canadian forestry, whatever its future, will
never realize all it should unless hand in hand
with science.

BBTIMATB OF FINANCIAL POSITION OF A MIXED PLANTATION
OF 100 ACRBS IN CANADA,

{Manitoba and the Northwest particularly.)

RBVBNUB,

Ist Thinning when 15 years old, 3,000 poles,

20 ft long: at 3c I 00

2nd Thinning at 18 years ; 8,000 trees, at 6c. 400

Srd Thinning at ?,6 years ; 16,000 trees, 12

inches diameter at base, 40 feet, at 30c. 4,600

4th Thinning at 35 years ; 26,000 trees, 20

inches diameter ; 60 feet, at 50c 12,500

6th Thinning, at 40 years ; 30,000 trees, 22

inches diameter 22,600

eth Thinning, at 45 years ; 21,000 trees, 26

inches diameter, at 91.00 21,000

7th Thinning at 60 years ; 18.000 trees, at

f 1.10 19,000

Gross Revenue 9 80,000

10,0.0 trees failed, leaving 20,000 trees, or 200 per
acre as permanent crop.

KXPBNDITUBB.

1,000 rods of fence, at 75 cents 9 760

Drainage of portions 250

150,000 trees, 1 year seedling, 1 year trans-
planted, at 1 c , 1,E00

Planting same 676

Freight on trees. ... 150

Original cost 9 3,225

Per acre.— 932.

Replanting failures for three years, 5,000 trees 100
General attendance, up-keep of fence, &c. , for

15 years 800

Gross cost 9 3,626

Per acre until revenue begins— 936.

Cost of thinning and hauling to roads 9 13,100

General superintendence and ^incidentals for

35 years 3,600

Gross expenditure 9 20,225

Balance being clear revenue 9 60,566

9 80.790

No allowance is made for interest on outlay
and rent of land, on the one hand, nor for in-
terest on revenue, and value of grazing for 25
years, on the other hand. Neither is credit
given for climatic amelioration, not for value of
permanent crop.

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