THE VANISHING TRAIL 



69 



covering nearly every acre they denuded testifies to 

 something different what is it? Simply thoroughfire pro- 

 protection. On a light soil almost any forest will by natu- 

 ral laws tend to reproduce itself, not always in exactly 

 the same species, if the species are at all mixed, but ef- 

 fectively nevertheless. One fire immediately following 



WH.vr FIKE PROTECTION CAN DO 



Effective fire protection was practically the only thing neces- 

 sary to obtain the heavy regeneration shown in this picture of 

 an .American cutting in the Maritime Pine region. 



the cutting of the old forest is often sufficient to destroy 

 the seeds left in the soil, and successive burnings, such 

 as so often occur in the cut-over regions of our lum- 

 bering states, invariably kill all chance of natural repro- 

 duction. Fire protection is the foundation of French 

 forestry. 



Today the former American saw mills in France have 

 all been dismantled. Our heavy, rapid cutting equip- 



ment did not generally appeal to the French lumbermen, 

 who feel that because of their limited forest resources 

 they can better afford the extra time required by a thin- 

 ner saw than the waste of wood made by the wide Ameri- 

 can kerf. The mill sites, moreover, were not chosen with 

 a view to suitability to the peace time needs of French 

 industry, and here in the Landes one may see today here 

 and there a hulking framework which it has proved too 

 expensive to salvage. Camp sites and parade grounds 

 too may still be .recognized because the continued tramp- 

 ling of the soil prevented the regrowth. A year ago, 

 however, the forest ministry sowed these spots anew, 



ONCE A SAW MILL OF THE 20TH ENGINEERS 



The use of the mill site and surrounding camp prevented nat- 

 ural regeneration, but now the entire area is covered with little 

 Maritime Pines about two inches tall, grown from seeds sown 

 by the French. 



and such a crop of tiny seedlings are now pushing up 

 even between the very timbers of the mill frames, that 

 within a few years even these last relics of American 

 lumbering in France will have vanished. 



ANNOUNCEMENT 



Tke Annual Meeting was keld on tke 26tli of January. At tkat time 

 tkis issue of tke magazine was in press. Tke report of tke proceedings, 

 resolutions, etc., \vill ke printed in tke Marck issue, vs^kick ^\\ also 

 contain tke financial statement of 1921. 



