900 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



TRENCH AND UNDERGROWTH WHICH SHELTERED THE GERMANS 



In Belleau wood near Chateau Thierry where Americans first aided in stoppinR the last great rush of the 

 Germans the trenches and undergrowth and shell felled trees were over run by the valiant Americans and the 

 Germans driven out after terrific fighting. 



help in restoring their forests? It did not require a not only was able to supply army requirements but was 

 long examination to make a reply to this question. Bel- able, by reason of her forests, to retain her liberty and 

 gium has lost practically all her forests. Fifty per cent save her national soul. Had it not been for the defensive 

 of the timber and woodlands of England, Scotland, Wales value of the forests of northern France, which enabled 



her to hold back the in- 

 vaders, and for their of- 

 fensive value, permitting 

 the secret gathering of 

 large bodies of troops for 

 attack, France would early 

 in the war have been over- 

 run and defeated by the 

 Germans. Her forests sav- 

 ed her and in this one re- 

 spect alone she is more than 

 amply paid for all her work 

 and all her expenditures on 

 them during the last one 

 hundred and twenty-five 

 }ears, the period for which 

 a definite forestry system 

 has been in force. 



Can Germany Repay 

 the Allies? 



The ability of Germany 

 to repay, in timber, the 

 losses sustained by France, 



and Ireland has gone, and every tree in Great Britain Great Britain and Belgium has been carefully studied by 

 would have been cut had there been transportation for forest experts of these countries. The result of these 

 them to the sawmills, while 

 France with great forest 

 wealth and her forestry 

 system highly developed, 

 lost fully one-tenth of her 

 forests. In the battle-scar- 

 red sections of northern 

 France some million and a 

 half acres of forest are to- 

 day devastated and of lit- 

 tle value except as fuel 

 wood while large areas of 

 her forests, governmental, 

 communal and privately 

 owned, have been cut over 

 to supply the needs of the 

 French, American, British, 

 and Canadian armies. 



France had not only to 

 see her forests destroyed in 

 the actual fighting and in 

 the movement of armies, 

 but had to supply her own 

 army and those of her 



allies with wood for their numerous military needs. 

 This had to be done because lumber could be more 

 readily secured in France than anywhere else, and France, 

 thanks to her splendidly developed system of forestry. 



VIEW IN SHOT-SWEPT BELLEAU WOOD 



A tangle of wrecked trees, matted undergrowth, massive rocks, wire entanglements and damaged trenches and 

 machine gun nests are to be seen where the marines and other forces of the American Expeditionary force 

 scored a hard won victory over the Huns near Chateau Thierry. The writer in the lower right hand corner. 



studies will be placed before the members of the Peace 

 Conference as soon as the work, which is now under 

 way, is completed. The information for the American 

 delegates is being gathered under the direction of Colonel 



