580 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



no sentiment today should keep any patriotic American 

 from giving up material which is so urgently and vitally 

 needed in the fight. Whoever has any walnut trees should 

 get in touch at once with any one of a number of lumber 

 companies or manufacturers who have contracts with the 

 government to supply airplane propellers or gun stock 

 material. A list of these is given at the end of this article. 



Walnut possesses qualities which make it better fitted 

 than any other known wood both for the propellers of 

 airplanes and for gun stocks. Its strength and lightness 

 combined ; and the fact that it does not warp or splinter 

 have placed it in the front rank of forest products f^r 

 the uses named. These are all important characteristics 

 when it comes to the manufacture of equipment that 

 must stand the 

 hardest tests 

 and the most 

 gruelling stress 

 of war. With 

 the severe 

 strain to which 

 an airplane 

 p r o p e 1 ler is 

 subjected every 

 second of the 

 time it is in ac- 

 tive operation, 

 it is essential to 

 the life of the 

 machine and of 

 the flier, as 

 well as to the 

 success of his 

 hazardous tasks 

 that nothing 

 should "give." 

 The slightest 

 warp at a criti- 

 cal moment 

 might work un- 

 told and irre- 

 parable dam- 

 age. It might re- 

 sult in the need- 

 less loss of hun- 

 dreds or thous- 

 ands of lives, 

 or in the turn 

 of a battle. 



What is true of an airplane propeller is true also of 

 the trusty gunstock which the soldier polishes carefully 

 and gently and upon which he depends when he goes, 

 "over the top" after the enemy. If it fails him it may 

 cost not only his life but that of some of his fellow 

 fighters. In order to do accurate and deadly work the 

 barrel of the gun must be perfectly true. The least warp 

 of the gun stock is very likely to turn the barrel slightly 

 so that it will not fire straight. Surely no one could wish 

 a finer mission for some of the noble old walnuts which 

 have stood for seventy-five or a hundred years, than to see 



UP THE ROAD TOWARD VICTORY 



These walnut logs going into a saw mill "somewhere in America" are on their way to the hattle front 

 "somewhere in France." Part of them will serve the cavalry of the air in the form of airplane pro- 

 pellers. Some will go into gun stocks. Millions'of feet are needed for these two purposes. United 

 States foresters and Boy Scouts are helping the Government to locate walnut. 



scale. 



them start for France to help in the drive into Germany. 

 And like the men that this country is sending abroad, 

 no weaklings are wanted. Walnut trees to be available 

 for either of the uses desired, must be at least twelve 

 inches in diameter at the smaller end ; and from logs 

 which are under fourteen inches nothing but gun stock 

 is made. They are too small for airplane making. The 

 trees which will be acceptable for government needs will 

 be from sixty-five to one hundred and fifty years 

 of age, while a few may even exceed the latter age. 

 The walnut belt of the United States extends roughly 

 from the western end of New England on out into Ne- 

 braska, and on the north from a short distance up into the 

 Lake States down into Tennessee. Some scattered wal- 

 nut is found in 

 other places, 

 but p r o b ably 

 not in sufficient 

 q u a n tities to 

 make up car- 

 load lots which 

 would warrant 

 the cutting and 

 shipping of the 

 timber to the 

 manufacturer. 

 While the 

 govern ment 

 does not buy 

 any of the lum- 

 ber direct, it 

 has prepared a 

 scale of prices 

 in order that 

 those who have 

 the wood to 

 sell may know 

 what is a rea- 

 s o n able price 

 for them to 

 secure. Buyers 

 for the various 

 sawmills and 

 lumber com- 

 panies will 

 pay to own- 

 ers prices in ac- 

 cordance with 

 the government 

 It should be understood that these are not prices 



fixed by the government but that they allow only a fair 

 and reasonable profit to both the mills and the log buyer. 

 These prices are as follows : 



