Canadian Forestry Journal, February, 1919 



69 



of Engineers of the A.E.F. called in Colonel 

 Graves and made him responsible for furnishing 

 the lumber to carry out these plans. Accord- 

 ingly Col. Graves and I went to work to procure 

 it. We knew that the tonnage shortage pre- 

 vented our importing it, but we understood that 

 the French would fill our first requirements. 



What was our dismay to learn that by furnish- 

 ing us lumber the French had simply meant 

 they would furnish us the trees standing in the 

 forests! They had no piles, and they had not 

 enough lumber or ties for themselves. Even 

 worse, they had no labor. What were we to do? 

 The situation was critical. Our troops were on 

 their way over, and we had nothing built to 

 receive them, nor any materials with which to 

 build. We must have forestry troops and saw- 

 mills at once. Mr. Claveille, the Chief of the 

 French transportation system, told us with vivid 

 emphasis that failure to send forestry troops 

 promptly would spell disaster. Gen. Pershing 

 was so anxious about the situation that he per- 

 sonally dictated an urgent cable asking the War 

 Department to stop sending fighting men until 

 they had first sent forestry troops. 



But, what will be the use of sending forestry 

 troops and sawmills unless thera is enough 

 standing timber? The vital question then was, 

 did France possess enough standing timber to 

 fill the indispensable requirements not only of 

 their own army and civil population, but of the 

 British army and the American army as well? 

 The construction program of the American en- 

 gineers called for lumber in quantities which 

 staggered the French. 



The Foresight of Forestry. 



Fortunately, France did have the forests. The 

 situation was saved, the war shortened by many 

 long months. And why did she have them? Be- 

 cause she had practised forestry for generations. 



We must not imagine that she always prac- 

 tised forestry. Like other countries, she began 

 by destroying her forests. Eventually, however, 

 she saw the disastrous effects of her recklessness, 

 and gradually turned from destroying to restor- 

 ing, and then to building up. For example, 100 

 years ago the southwestern corner of France, 

 extending from Bordeaux to the Pyrennees 

 Mountains was almost as treeless as the prairie, 

 and was fringed by sand dunes which were con- 

 stantly in movement, burying fields and houses 

 and even whole villages. Napoleon called in 

 engineers and foresters. These men succeeded 

 in holding the dunes in place by planting with 

 maritime pine; and then they planted up the 



BRIGAl>n>i:-iri-..\»-,i:Al. .1. H. white, D.S.O., 



in command of Canadian Forestry Corps operations 



in France; a Director of the Canadian 



Forestry Association. 



whole interior of the region with the same tree. 

 During the war this region was the largest source 

 of lumber not only for the French army but for 

 the British and American armies as well. 



A National Enthusiasm. 



The French forests were, therefore, not simply 

 nature's gift, but the fruit of conscious effort, 

 applied with painstaking care and industry 

 through long years. 



Forestry to a Frenchman is the accept?d way 

 of handling forests. He cannot conceive of 

 handling woodlands in any other way. In 

 France everybody, even those who are not for- 

 estero or lumbermen, understands what forestry 

 means. When you say you are a forester you 

 don't have to stop and explain as you do in 

 America. It is just as clear as if you said you 

 were a lawyer or a doctor. This universal un- 

 derstanding of the aims of forestry is th:^ most 

 potent factor in the upbuilding of the forest 

 resources of any country. The Canadian For- 

 estry Association can render no more valuable 

 service than by disseminating this idea. It is to 

 the interest of the lumberman to have a per- 

 petual supply of timber to cut; it is to the 

 interest of the wood using industries to have a 



