WAR NOTES FROM FRENCH FORESTS 



613 



carry away a grateful remembrance 

 of their sojourn here. The school 

 museum has been often visited and has 

 been of much interest to troops of 

 different nationalities who have been 

 collected at the hospital and who at 

 some later period may be able in their 

 own countries to tell of the Forest 

 School at Nancy. 



"The school buildings fortunately 

 were not damaged by the shells and 

 bombardment of the night of September 

 9, nor by the bombs thrown by German 

 aeroplanes September 4, October 13, 

 and the latter part of December, 1914. 



"All promotions of foresters have 



been suspended during the war. The 



promotions planned for 1914 will be 



valid for the year 1915, if hostihties 



cease." 



* * * 



A report of the army staff (Bureau 

 No. 4) dated December 11, 1914, 

 proposed the creation of a military 

 commission of forests, similar to the 

 military commission of navigation, with 

 equal powers, for supplying wood to 

 the army, and the following Decree 

 was issued : 



Article 1. A military forest commis- 

 sion is created to act in connection 

 with the general stafE of the army, 

 under the same conditions as the mili- 

 tary commission of navigation, with 

 the additional duties of preparing by all 

 means available the wood supplies of 



the army. (Names of members of this 

 commission are given.) 

 * * * 



A decree forbidding the exportation oj 

 walnut timber declares that after Decem- 

 ber 4, 1914, the exportation, reexporta- 

 tion from warehouses, supplies in course 

 of transit, or transhipment of walnut 

 timber, round, square, or sawed, is 

 prohibited. Exceptions to this decree 

 may be accorded under conditions 

 determined by the Minister of Finances. 



An officer in an infantry battalion 

 writes from the forest: "We have been 

 on the frontier for two months and 

 make reconnoiters every day in the 

 dense forests which surround X. . . . , 

 in order to surprise the patrols of the 

 enem}^ or to make sudden attacks 

 which are often successful. The forest 

 guards familiar with the country would 

 make very useful guides in these 

 forests which we generally traverse at 

 night. Unfortunately, they have all 

 been mobilized." It may well be 

 asked, if it would not be better, instead 

 of grouping the forest guards in com- 

 panies which are not of very great 

 assistance in the National defense, to 

 place a certain number at the disposal 

 of any regiments who are fighting near 

 the district in which their duties lie 

 in time of peace. They could render 

 important service here in guiding troops 

 on their night marches, organizing 

 ambuscades, etc. 



Meeting at Panama-Pacific Exposition. 



Each member of the American Forestry Association is invited by the 

 Board of Directors to attend the meeting of the Association at the Panama- 

 Pacific Exposition at San Francisco on Wednesday, October 20. 



The whole week of October 18 will be devoted to forestry, fire protection 

 and limibering and the allied subjects will attract, it is expected, a very large 

 attendance. 



The Society of American Foresters will meet on Monday, October 18; 

 the Western Foresty and Conservation Association on Tuesday, October 19; 

 the American Forestry Association on Wednesday, October 20; the Pacific 

 Logging Congress on Thursday, October 21; and the two following days will 

 be spent in visiting lumber camps in the magnificent red woods. 



