338 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



leaf mattresses are said to be as comfortable to lie on as 

 any filled with feathers. The paper used is toughened by 

 a special process, which prevents tearing easily. The 

 leaves for filling the mattresses and pillow cases have 

 been collected in the great German forests by bands of 

 children at a practically negligible cost." 



Copyright by Underwood Sr Underwood. 



STRUCK BY A GERMAN SHELL 



This shows the damage done by one shot. The tree is practically 

 killed, the top portion being so weakened that it is likely to be 

 broken off in the first wind storm. 



England's forests going 



THE effect of the war on the forests of the British 

 Isles will likely be the utter destruction of most of 

 them. The war has created imperative need of 

 lumber, and at the same time has cut off England's main 

 source of supply as well as made prices for what can be 

 imported almost prohibitive. In time of peace England's 

 timber imports were valued at about $21.5,000,000 a year 



and this figure gives some idea of the amount she has 

 needed since the war started. So great is her need, in 

 fact, that already many of her home forests have been 

 cut down, and as everything must be sacrificed to the 

 war, it is altogether probable that trees on many estates 

 and on many private parks and woodland have been 

 turned into lumber for barracks, etc. 



An interesting feature of the situation is the organiza- 

 tion of a Canadian forestry battalion, the 224th Overseas 

 Battalion, consisting of expert Canadian lumbermen and 

 woodsmen, to the number of 1,500, who have been sent 

 to England and been used in lumbering operations in 

 England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. This unique bat- 

 talion is commanded by Lieut. Col. Alexander McDougall 

 of Ottawa, Canada, a well-known railway contractor. 

 The men came from British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatch- 

 ewan, Quebec, New Brunswick and Ottawa. The battal- 

 ion was reviewed at Ottawa before its departure for Eng- 

 land recently and the commanding officer, in speaking of 

 it, said : "The men of the battalion carried, during the 

 parade, peavies, camp-dogs, cross-cut saws, etc. The 

 parade was not intended to show what implements they 

 should carry, but merely for inspection by His Royal 

 Highness the Governor General. Our equipment alto- 

 gether will be that used in the lumber industry in 

 Canada." 



The battalion is already at work in England's forests, 

 and while the number of trees daily cut down and sent to 

 sawmills is not stated, the progress that 1,500 expert lum- 

 bermen can make in felling trees can readily be imagined. 



An Ottawa despatch under date of May 28, states 

 that the War Office has called for another Canadian 

 Forestry Battalion of 1,500 men. The 224th Battalion, 

 under command of Lieut. -Col. Alex. McDougall, has done 

 . such excellent work in England and Scotland in aiding 

 the naval and shipbuilding industries that a second 

 battalion of this nature has been (authorized at the 

 request of the British authorities and recruiting will be- 

 gin immediately in the lumbering districts. Lieut.-Col. J. B. 

 White, of Montreal, formerly of the Riordon Pulp and 

 Paper Company, who is now with the 224th Overseas 

 Battalion, has been recalled to organize and command the 

 new regiment. A third Battalion is also to be raised, 

 with Lieut.-Col. W. R. Smyth, M.P.P. for Algoma, in 

 command. This battalion will be raised in Ontario. 



WHAT OF THE FUTURE? 



OF THE situation in England and the need for 

 future action, Edward Percy Stebbings, F.L.S., 

 F.R.G.S., a well-known expert on forestry, 

 writes : "We are now engaged in cutting down, in sacri- 

 ficing, such woods as we have in this country. And we 

 have, say, some 5,000,000 to 9,000,000 acres of land in 

 these islands which expert opinion is unanimous would 

 grow timber, and a considerable proportion of which 

 would carry fine crops of commercially profitable timber 

 trees. 



"Heavy fellings are being made in our own woods 

 under the auspices of the Home Timber Committee in 



