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Primitive Lumbering Methods 



The \\;ii' III tlio Balkaus is uow attiaetiug atteution to tliat quarter 

 of Europe. In the barren land of Herzegovina efforts for some years 

 have been directed to reforestation, in order to save the country from 

 becoming a desert. The Venetians and Romans once drew supplies of 

 timber from that region, but now there is little left. In many places 

 bare mountains of stone occnpy regions of former forests; but the 



A "TltAINLOAD" OF LTIMBEIi GOIMi T(^ :M.\I!KET 

 IN HERZEGOVINA 



people are planting trees and try- 

 ing to make them grow. 



One of the commonest methods 

 is to blast with dynamite holes for 

 the trees, then carry soil to the 

 pit and create a forest reserve. 

 Frequently what appears from the 

 road as a mere slope of rock is 

 covered and edged with signs 

 prohilnting jiasturage in the area. 

 On the sly, ^however, and quite 

 frequently from mere laziness or 

 spite, the peasant will drive his 

 goats into this area and then, when 

 he is fined heavily for the destruc- 

 tion, he becomes an opponent of 

 the government. 



If these plants thrive at the 

 outset, it is judged that it will pay 

 to plant further in the locality. 8ome places have become covered 

 by green vegetation in two years and are held as reserves to the 

 end of 'the third year, when they have become partly forested. 



The goat is the predominating factor in the lives of these people. 

 A goat ranges in value from $4.80 to $5.60, and a man's wealth is 

 frequently expressed in terms of goats. The state, on the other 

 hand, is trying to suppress the goats, as they destroy the vegetation, 

 while the people who care nothing about reforesting the mountains 

 for the benefit of future generations raise the cry that the goat is 

 everything to the pieople of today. Tlieir praises of the goat are 

 well founded. What the reindeer is to the Eskimo so is the goat to 

 the Herzegovinian. Hide and hair, meat, milk, horns — all are util- 

 ized. Then, too, the goat is hardy and hunts its own food, so the 

 people ask what good the vegetation will do if no animal is per- 

 mitted to eat it, and why prefer trees to goats, since the goat is able 

 to skirmish for his own living. In deference to piublie sentiment the 

 goat tax has been made very low and is regulated by the number of 

 animffls a man may possess, in direct proportion. A peasant who has 

 but ten goats . pays eight cents a head, while he whose herd is a 

 hundred strong must pay more per capita. 



No grazing, is permitted at first on newly planted mountain slopes 

 Sheep are the first animals to be admitted to these new pastures, as 

 they do not rise on their hind legs to devour the growing tops of 

 plants. Then the year after opening to the sheep the cattle are 



UESULT OF REFORESTATION AMONG THE FOOTHILLS OF 

 THE BALKAN MOU.NTAINS 



admitted, as they do not reach the tops of the youug trees, and 

 finally the goat is admitted. The shrubbery is then high enough to 

 care for itself. 



Parallel plots of these reserves are laid out over the province, so 

 that when one is entirely reserve, in the next there are sheep, while 

 its neighbor still further on has sheep and cows, and in the fourth 

 sheep, cows and goats graze together. Each year the peasants find 

 that the previous reserve will be ready for sheep and the other areas 

 each advance one stage, so that eventually the entire barren Herze- 

 govina will be fertile and green. 



They have very strict forestry laws in this region and violations 

 are subject to imprisonment. Instead of jailing the men, however, 

 they are set to gathering seeds, and later they arc put to sowing 

 them. Consequently, if but one wild seed in five hundred thrives the 

 venture still pays. It costs the government nothing, and the produce 

 of the work of that one seed will help spread the good work indefi- 

 nitely. 



In the north of the Herzegovina there is still some primeval forest 

 remaining and it is now being made productive by cautious for- 

 estry. Interesting folk are the lumbermen there. Women work at 

 these labors as well as men and wages are from twenty- eight to forty 

 cents a day, but those of unusual ability may draw ninety cents. The 

 lumbermen's homes are small cabins with peaked wood or thatch 



roofs. Sawmills ar? as primitive 

 as it is possible for them to be 

 and are run by water power. 

 Instead of hauling lumber on 

 wagons, it is sent to market on 

 the backs of horses, though the 

 roads of the region are generally 

 good. p. J. K. 



Building Wooden Cars 



A news dispatch from Seattle, 

 stating tbat within the past ten 

 days 100,000,000 feet of lumber 

 was purchased in Washington and 

 Oregon by car companies, does not 

 indicate that the steel car is driv- 

 ing wood out of car shops. The 

 purchase of the above lumber was 



A REI'KE.SENTATIVE SAWMILL AMONG THE WESTERN 

 BALKAN MOUNTAINS 



reported to have been made by three companies, the Canadian Car 

 and Foundry Company, the American Car and Foundry Company and 

 the Pullman Company. 



It is to be noted that this large purchase was made on the Pacific 

 coast, and it consists wholly of soft woods, though the exact species 

 are not reported. 



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