9IIIMIIII Illlllllllllll IIIBIIIIIIHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII1IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII1IIIIIIIIIII1II1 IIIIIIIIIIHIIIIIIItllHIIIIB 



I AMERICAN FORESTRY 



VOL. XXIV 



MARCH, 1918 



NO. 291 



Bum nun iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniwiiiiiiy iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiin iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiiii 



FLYING ON WINGS OF SPRUCE 



BY E. A. STERLING 



THE aviators of the Allies fly on wings of spruce. 

 From Maine to Alaska the forests are giving of 

 their best in the indispensable spruce for fabricat- 

 ing the framework of these wings of victory. 



Lieut. Col. 

 Rees, of the 

 British Royal 

 Plying Corps, 

 while here with 

 the British 

 -Mission, said 

 that "the side 

 that has the as- 

 cendency in the 

 air wins the 

 battle. The 

 more spruce we 

 get, the quicker 

 the war will be 

 over." 



When com- 

 plete air su- 

 p r e m a c y is 

 gained military 

 experts believe 

 the day of vic- 

 tory will be at 

 hand. America 

 has promised 

 t h e reinforce- 

 ments in air- 

 craft and men 

 to attain this 

 end and will 

 not fail. The 

 importance of 

 spruce in air- 

 craft produc- 

 tion is also in- 

 die a t e d by 

 Capt. Dourif, 

 of the French 

 Aviation Serv- 

 i c e , who is 



. , Photograph bv courtesv of James D. Lacey & Company. 



quotea as say- sitka spruce in heavy stand 



incr that "Your This is typical oi the patches or grouos of soruce found in many parts of its range. They may occur as 



8 " ,a{ - * small, isolated areas, or as adjacent or connected groUDS over large torest types where the environment 



S D r 11 r e will i! favorable. Note the tyoical moss on the uoper branches. To locate, select, and cut the best trees in 



r such grouos is part of the present activity in aircraft spruce production. 



prove the decisive factor in the big European conflict." 



American men and machines have already joined the 



flying squadrons of the Allies in the shrapnel drenched 



air over the fighting front. The dead-locked trenches 



may have taken 

 away what lit- 

 tle glamor war 

 ever held, but 

 in the new 

 lighting realm 

 of the sky the 

 spectacular ele- 

 ment remains. 

 Our forests 

 have never 

 served a pur- 

 pose more vital 

 or more dra- 

 matic than in 

 furnishing the 

 spruce for 

 these navies of 

 the air. 



If the war is 

 ultimately won 

 in the air, the 

 historians will 

 tell only of the 

 critical battles. 

 The imagina- 

 tion thrills in 

 advance at the 

 picture of the 

 Allied aircraft 

 in a concerted 

 forward sweep, 

 bombing, 

 smashing and 

 blinding all op- 

 position, and 

 with control of 

 the air estab- 

 lished, leading 

 and supporting 

 the land armies 

 to their objec- 

 tives. Back of 

 all this, in 



1.13 



