532 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



"BATTLE OF THE TREES" 



A SPECIAL cable to the Cincinnati Times Star says : 

 "With the American Army in France, August 3 

 The French speak of it admiringly as the Charge of 

 the Rouge-et-Blanc. It was one of the most magnificent, 

 desperately courageous charges of this period of the 

 war. In it were Indians, lumber jacks and farmer boys, 

 hence the French Red and White. 



"The Red men and their white brothers had moved 

 stealthily toward the Meuniere woods, bayonets set. 

 Hidden in the cover of the woods were the renowned Two 

 Hundredth Jaegers and the Two Hundred and Sixteenth 

 Reserve division. German machine gunners had been 

 planted in trees. Behind sandbag ramparts were other 

 guns. Not a sound came from the advancing Ameri- 

 cans until they had pounced upon their prey and were in 

 bayonet-lunging position. 



"Then a bedlam broke loose. Every American within 

 a mile knew that Indians were in battle ; that the tre- 

 mendous-voiced white men of the American forest lands, 

 too, were up and atop of the enemy. In the medley 

 of battle sound, mingled in equal power the wild war- 

 whoops of the Redskins, piercing, blood-curdling, the 

 war yells riding high over the thunder of gunnery ; the 

 war-shouts, in deeper voice, of the American woodsmen 

 engaged in the fighting they love most, the hand-to-hand 

 struggle, and the hurrahing of the farmer boys, who gave 

 tongue after the manner of their city cousins. 



"Never in the history of this war were the picked fight 

 ing men of Germany beset in such fearful array. The 

 sharp eyes of the Indians marked out the machine gun- 

 ners in the trees for dead men. Some were dropped by 

 the unerring bullets of Indian, lumberjack or farmer 

 lad. Others found the lithe Indians swarming up the 

 very tree trunks after them. A brief affray, a knife ex- 

 pertly thrust, a dead German, an eager Indian leaping 

 panther-like to the ground and racing for another occu- 

 pied tree. That, in substance, is the story of the tree- 

 fighting." 



u 



USE WOOD SAVE COAL 



SE wood in this way you will aid in conserving 

 coal this winter. 



Wood is being urged as conservation material in prac- 

 tically all industries by the War Industries Board. This 

 is indicated in a recent letter by George R. E. Day, direc- 

 tor of the Oil Well Supply Division, United States Fuel 

 Administration, addressed to the managing heads of oil 

 and gas producing companies. 



Mr. Day, of course, urges the co-operation of the oil 

 companies in the conservation of steel, but in a list 

 of "Don'ts" he puts wood first as a substitute for steel 

 in storage tanks, roofing and in building operations. 



For instance he says : "Don't use steel tanks for any 

 purpose where wood or concrete is available." Also, 

 "Don't use steel for roofing when wood will answer the 

 purpose." 



NATIONAL FORESTS RECEIPTS INCREASE 



O ECEIPTS from the National Forests in the fiscal 

 -*-* year 1918, ending June 30th, exceeded those for 

 1917 by almost $120,000 and totaled over $3,574,000. 

 The increase does not come up to the big increase of the 

 year before, which was more than $600,000, but still 

 shows a healthy growth in most lines of business on the 

 Forests. The cost of operating the Forests was about 

 $4,000,000, and was practically the same as in the pre- 

 vious year. This is exclusive of the additional expendi- 

 tures caused by the very serious fire situation and for 

 which a special deficiency appropriation of over $700,000 

 was made by Congress. 



This year's increase in receipts, according to the for- 

 estry officials, came mainly from the larger number of 

 livestock grazed, although every revenue-producing 

 activity on the Forests except timber business and per- 

 mits for water power contributed its share. The timber 

 business fell off in consequence of the general let-up in 

 private building activities on account of the war, the 

 dislocation of transportation facilities during much of 

 the year, and the labor situation, especially in the North- 

 west, where the timber business is ordinarily largest. 



The falling off in receipts from water-power permits 

 was caused, it is believed, by the uncertainty created by 

 pending legislation. Many prospective permittees are 

 holding back until final action has been taken on the 

 islation now under consideration. 



Timber sales yielded over $1,500,000 and livestock 

 -ra; Ing over $1,700,000. Slightly less than $100,000 was 

 brought in from permits for water power development. 

 Other forms of land occupancy, including leases of land 

 for summer homes, hotels, club grounds, apiaries, fish 

 hatcheries and canneries, brought in about $120,000. 

 The sale of turpentine privileges on the Florida Forest 

 brought in a little over $8,000. 



Much of the use of the National Forests is free. 

 Settlers and residents of the small communities in and 

 near the Forests are allowed without charge reasonable 

 amounts of wood for fuel. In addition, the settler may 

 obtain timber for use in the improvement and mainte- 

 nance of his farm and is given the privilege to graze free 

 not to exceed ten head of milch and work animals. 



Considerable co-operation was also given the Forest 

 Service by grazing permittees in the construction of drift 

 fences and the improvement of watering places. Al- 

 though the range is being used to the limit the forestry 

 officials are regulating the use carefully, with a view to 

 preventing any permanent damage to carrying capacity. 



PLANTED when General U. S. Grant was a lieutenant 

 stationed at Fort Vancouver, a cherry tree on the 

 farm of Grant Farmer, on Ford's Prairie, Washington, 

 is still bearing at the age of 84 years. It has a spread of 

 65 feet and its trunk measures 10 feet 11 inches in cir- 

 cumference. 



PLANT WALNUT TREES 



