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AMERICAN FORESTRY 



the patches of wood are isolated and because owing to 

 the general scarcity of wood litter and dead branches are 

 kept cleaned up. Consequently the woods are not easilv 

 burned. Also at that stage of the struggle bodies of 

 men moved largely along the roads, and artillery fire 

 was not of long enough duration in one place to do much 

 damage. Earthworks then were not very elaborate and 

 poles were not used su nuich in their construction as at 

 present. 



"The effect of the operations coming under the second 

 head are much more noticeable for the simple reason 

 that the fighting has lor many months been contined to 

 a rather narrow strip of country. 



"One might subdivide this area into two zones : the 

 zone of constant bombardment, that is the zone of the 

 trenches where there is an almost constant hail of shells 

 and the zone of intermittent bombardment, this being the 

 territory where the local range heavv guns drop a shell 

 now and then, searching for the opposing artillery or 

 sweeping the roads in search of transports or cuiumns 

 of troops. 



"On the areas covered by the constant fire there are 

 no living trees or even large shrubs left; in fact I've 

 seen small patches where it seems that even the grass 

 blades must be pretty well frayed out. Here, natural!} 

 ii; daytime, one keeps down in the trenches as much as 

 possible, and in the dark one is too busy perfecting and 

 repairing one's particular portion of trench to look around 

 very much. 



"However, by peeping out very cautiously in the day- 

 time one may get an occasional glimpse of what used 

 to be a patch of woods or a few isolated trees. 



All species look pretty much the same now ; a stub 

 more or less split up, with (jne or more bits of broken 

 branches still clinging on near the top. There are no 

 leaves, twigs, or small branches remaining, and even 

 most of the bark has been whipped off by flying metal. 



"The earth is generally broken up and pitted very 

 generously with shell craters. Now the explosion of a 

 good many of these shells, for instance those contain- 

 ing lyddite, generates fumes which stain everything in 

 the immediate vicinity , sand bags, clothes, and the very 

 earth itself. As far as I could make out these fumes 

 constantly settling on the soil will kill, or at any rate 

 damage, its vegetation, and probably will reduce its 

 fertility, for a time at least. However, when the war is 

 over our French and Belgian friends will be able to tell 

 us all about this. 



"As to the effect of the gas on the soil, I have never been 

 in the gassed country, so do not know much about it. 

 They say that it kills the leaves on trees and shrubs. 



"The long range bombardment of the second class 

 doesn't do any appreciable damage to woodlands because 

 the shells do not cover much of the ground and are 

 generally dropped on other things than trees. 



"A good many poles are taken from this area immedi- 

 ately behind the trenches for use in earthworks. This 

 undoubtedly takes a good deal of material from the 

 future yield of the stands. However, owing to the great 



size of the area they are removed from the removal is 

 not verv noticeable in any particular spot. 



When the time of reconstruction comes there will be 

 an increased demand for timber for a time. All build- 

 ings, although in Europe largely made of brick or stone, 

 require some wood in their construction. Most of the 

 buildings close to the scene of the present operations will 

 ha\e to be completely rebuilt. Wood goes into railway 

 construction, and a great many public works ; all of 

 which have suffered very hea\ily wherever near the 

 trenches. 



"Hence we will not onlv have damaged forests on the 

 aieas affected, but also a need for timber which for some 

 time will be much greater than before the war." 



SOCIETY OF AMERICAN FORESTERS' MEETING 



THE annual meeting of the Society of American 

 Foresters was held in Washington, D. C, on 

 January 25. In addition to the usual reports of 

 the retiring officers and committees, several matters of 

 special importance to the Society were thoroughly dis- 

 cussed at the two business sessions. Chief among these 

 were the questions of membership and the amalgamation 

 of the Proceedings of the Society of American Foresters 

 and the Forestry Quarterly. The general policy of such 

 an amalgamation was endorsed by the meeting and the 

 Executive Committee instructed to work out the details 

 in cooperation with Dr. Fernow, editor-in-chief of the 

 Forestry Quarterly. On the subject of membership 

 the meeting expressed itself as in favor of the creation of 

 a new class of Junior members, to be composed of profes- 

 sional foresters, wdiose achievements were not sufficient 

 to make them eligible for active membership. This 

 question was also referred to the Executive Committee 

 for further consideration and for reference to letter 

 ballot by the entire Society. Much other business was 

 transacted, including the approval of the estaljlishment 

 of a section of the Society in Washington, and of the 

 general policy of holding meetings of the Society in con- 

 nection with the annual winter meeting of the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science, with which 

 the Society is already affiliated. 



The election of officers for the ensuing year was 

 announced as follows : President, B. E. Fernow ; Vice- 

 President. E. H. Clapp; Secretary, Findley Burns; Treas- 

 urer, S. T. Dana ; Executive Committee, W. B. Greeley 

 (5-year term) ; R. C. Bryant (4-year term) ; Clyde 

 Leavitt ( .'i-year term) ; D. T. Mason (2-year term) ; F. A. 

 Silco.x ( 1-year term). 



An open meeting of the Society was held in the after- 

 noon of January 22, at which papers were presented by 

 Dr. B. E. Fernow on "The Possibilities of Silviculture in 

 America," and by Dr. Cristobal Hicken on "V^egetation 

 Zones of .Argentine and Adjoining Regions." 



In the evening a well-attended smoker was held at the 

 L'niversity Club, at which a number of informal talks 

 were given. ^ 



