156 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



Copyright by Underwood b' Underwood, \. Y. 



Effective Tree Screen in the Trenches. 



how some industrious french soldiers made themselves comfortable in the trenches and how their 

 improvised home was protected from observation by tree branches. 



the wholesale cuttings which were 

 necessitated in order to give full play 

 to the artillery and remove all growths 

 which might serve the enemy as masks 

 and ambushes. On the contrary, the 

 forests of Vincennes and Boulogne, 

 which practically touch the outer bar- 

 riers of Paris to the East and South, 

 have scarcely been touched. The 

 territorials quartered there have made 

 some slight cuttings for use in shelters. 



ROADS MADE OF TREES. 



The winter rains have rendered most 

 of the roads impassable, especially in 

 the wooded regions. In the forest of 

 Bouvigny, near Arras, and in the forest 

 of Berthonval, the artillerymen were 

 unable to move their guns over the 

 muddy and intrenched roads, and it 

 was impossible to even transport am- 

 munition. In order to keep the guns 

 supplied, it was necessary to cut new 

 roads, in all directions, through the 

 forests, using the felled trees for the 



purpose. The trunks, in sections of 

 about twelve feet, are laid side by side 

 and bound together with ropes and 

 with galvanized iron wire. They are 

 further securely fastened to stakes 

 driven deep in the ground. The first 

 layer of trees having proven insufficient, 

 a second was added. This again failing 

 to suffice, a third became necessary, 

 until, in many cases, three layers of 

 trees are superposed in order to permit 

 the passage of convoy wagons. To 

 avoid the too rapid wear of the wood 

 through the grinding of the heavy 

 wheels and the tearing of the horse's 

 shoes, earth mixed with straw, bark, 

 and the twigs and small branches of the 

 fallen trees is strewn plentifully over 

 these improvised roadways. 



Other cuttings have been made in 

 these forests, both for shelters and for 

 firewood. Concealment of the heavy 

 guns on the edge of the forest has 

 necessitated the use of large quantities 

 of the bigger branches, so that the sum 



