1028 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



"We will furnish these to you if you send us pit- wood." 

 Sweden replied, "But Germany will not permit our ships 

 to carry pit-wood to England." Said the British, "Tell 

 Germany that you will not supply her with iron ore 

 which she needs, unless she permits you to send us pit 

 timber and you to get in return these supplies you need 

 from us." Sweden made the proposition, Germany 

 adopted it and the three cornered bargain between the 

 two enemies and a neutral was made. 



Great Britain was thoroughly in earnest about cutting 

 down every tree if it was needed. Windsor forest, beau- 

 tiful, historic, thirty miles from London was sacrificed. 



for the large developments in munition and other enter- 

 prises in Great Britain. 



For a few months the authorities in Scotland, where 

 much cutting was being done, endeavored by co-operation 

 with the home timber trade to supplement the supply of 

 sleepers and of trench timber which was required, but 

 this assistance was quite inadequate, and after several 

 conferences in London with the departments interested, 

 it was decided to form the Home Grown Timber Com- 

 mittee which was done in November of 191 5. 



The Committee was authorized to purchase fabricated 

 timber from the timber trade ; purchase woodlands 



TIMBER STACKS AT A CANADIAN CAMP 



This mill and lumber yard situated in the midst of a good-sized tract of timber land is typical of the way lumber operations were conducted in 



the British Isles. 



A big Canadian saw mill was established in the heart of 

 it and 4,700 of its 7,000 acres were cut. Practically all 

 would have been cut had not the mill burned down when 

 about two-thirds of its work was completed. In and about 

 this forest the writer spent a day as the guest of Mr. 

 M. C. Duchesne, honorary secretary of the Royal English 

 Arboricultural Society and one of the best informed for- 

 esters of England. 



During 191 5 the British Government found that it 

 was becoming increasingly difficult to obtain a sufficient 

 supply of imported timber for the army in France and 



from the owners of estates, and carry out independently 

 the exploitation of woodlands on behalf of the Govern- 

 ment. 



Immediate steps were taken to forward these objects 

 but the Committee was faced with various difficulties — 

 among others, the shortage of labor, and also the pro- 

 vision of plant. The owners of the estates, upon the 

 whole, rose to the position, and with few exceptions will- 

 ingly afforded the Committee the opportunity of selecting 

 and purchasing their forest ground. The timber trade 

 in Scotland, which was previously fairly well organized, 



