FRENCH FORESTS IN THE WAR ZONE 



785 



specimens of silver fir. Many of them 

 are 113 2 fp<?t in circumference at breast- 

 height and 130 feet tall, while one is 

 133^ feet in circumference and 140 feet 

 tall. In the best parts of the forest the 

 older stands yield 7,000 cubic feet per 

 acre with a money value of $1,000. 

 For a time the forest was managed 

 under the shelterwood system, but 

 serious windfalls showed that this sys- 

 tem was not suited to mountain condi- 

 tions, and it has now been superseded 

 by the selection system. 



Farther south in the Vosges Moun- 

 tains lie the communal and state forests 

 of Gerardmer, comprising respectively 

 2,359 and 11,897 acres. The former 

 has 58 per cent of Norway spruce, most- 

 ly planted, 40 per cent of silver fir, and 

 2 per cent of Scotch pine; while the 

 latter has 50 per cent of silver fir and 

 25 per cent each of Norway spruce and 

 beech. One tree, known as the Geant 

 Sapin (giant fir), has a circumference 

 of 143^ feet, a height of 157 feet, a 

 volume of 1,095 cubic feet, and is 

 valued at nearly $135. Curiously 

 enough the beech is particularly abun- 

 dant at high altitudes, and near the top 

 of the Hohneck occur pure stands of 

 stunted beech with an occasional dwarf 

 silver fir. The general elevation, from 

 2,000 to 4,000 feet, is considerably 

 higher than that of the forest of Celles, 

 and windfall is more frequent. In 



February, 1902, for example, a severe 

 storm blew down 292,500 cubic feet of 

 timber and emphasized strongly the 

 necessity of substituting the selection 

 for the shelterwood system of cutting 

 in the mountains. 



The forests described briefly in this 

 article have since the war began played 

 an important part in the operations of 

 both sides. Offering, as they do, an 

 effective and very necessary screen 

 from the vigilant airmen, it has been 

 considered of marked advantage by 

 commanders of the armies, to hold them. 

 They are more easily defended than open 

 country, the trees and underbrush are 

 of immense service in making entrench- 

 ments and in blocking roads during a 

 retreat, and they have been used where- 

 ever possible for masking artillery. 



Military men assert that forests and 

 woodlands have been of greater prac- 

 tical service in this war than ever be- 

 fore, chiefly owing to the protection 

 they afford bodies of troops from spy- 

 ing airmen who direct artillery fire on 

 the enemy's positions. 



Hence it is certain that any forests or 

 woodlands within the fighting zone will 

 be an objective for opposing com- 

 manders, and that these forests and 

 woodlands will, during the progress of 

 the war, continue to be the scenes of 

 hard-fought engagements. 



Wood Preserving Pointer 



Recent experiments indicate that round timbers of all the pines, of Engelmann spruce, 

 Douglas fir, tamarack, and western larch, can be readily treated with preservatives, but that the 

 firs, hemlocks, redwood, and Sitka spruce, in the round, do not take treatment easily. This 

 information should be of value to persons who contemplate preservative treatment of round 

 posts, poles, or mine props. 



