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AMERICAN FORESTRY 



VOL. XXV 



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AUGUST, 1919 



NO. 308 



BELGIUM'S FORESTS BLIGHTED BY THE HUN 



BY PERCIVAL SHELDON RIDSDALE 



EDITOR OF AMERICAN FORESTRY MAGAZINE 



Brussels, Belgium. 



THE Germans practically destroyed the forests of 

 Belgium during their four years' occupation of the 

 conquered territory. A few small areas of wooded 

 land still remain, but the trees are standing only because 

 the Germans in their hurried retreat followed by their 

 speedy acceptance of the armistice found insufficient 

 time in which to complete their work of destruction. 



Several hundred million dollars' worth of trees were 

 destroyed, and the four provinces of Hainaut, Liege, 

 Luxemburg and Namur suffered most severely. 



Protests against the wholesale destruction of standing 

 timber, and the deliberate damage of young growth so 

 that it could not survive were made to General Baron 

 von Bissing, Governor Gen- 



eral of Belgium, by the 

 Belgian Forest Adminis- 

 tration and by the Central 

 Forestry Society of Bel- 

 gium, without avail, and 

 the systematic and scien- 

 tific destruction of the for- 

 ests and woodlands contin- 

 ued during the entire period 

 of the occupation. 



Belgium's forest area, 

 1,299,450 acres constitut- 

 ed about 17% of the entire 

 area of the country, where- 

 as one-fourth of the Ger- 

 man Empire and one-third 



of Saxony, Bavaria, Wurtemberg and Baden is in forest. 

 As Belgium is without doubt one of the heaviest lumber 

 consuming nations of the world, in view of the density 

 of her population and the needs of her industries, these 

 German forests will undoubtedly be compelled to restore 

 the lumber Belgium has lost, but only the long years can 

 restore her forests. Meanwhile, the effect of changes 

 of climate due to loss of her forests may cause damage 

 impossible to estimate, to add to the many injuries already 

 sustained by this unhappy country. 



The situation is well expressed by a report of the 

 < tntral Forestry Association of Belgium, of which Count 

 Yisart de Bocarme, the heroic Mayor of Bruges, is presi- 

 dent, which says: "In 1914 the wind of Liberty still 

 blew in the rich foliage of our forests, which were, alas ! 



Belgium, eager for the restoration of her de- 

 stroyed forests, has gratefully accepted the offer 

 of the American Forestry Association to aid by 

 presenting American forest tree seed. Belgium's 

 director of forests, N. I. Crahay, has asked for 

 quantities of the following seed: 



NOBLE FIR, GRAND FIR, WHITE FIR, SILVER FIR, 

 WESTERN LARCH, DOUGLAS FIR, PORT ORFORD 

 CEDAR, BALD CYPRESS, TIDELAND SPRUCE, PIN OAK, 

 RED OAK, SUGAR MAPLE, SILVER MAPLE AND TULIP 

 POPLAR. 



The American Forestry Association is now 

 soliciting contributions to a fund to provide this 

 seed and also to provide seed for the replanting 

 of the devastated forests of France. 



soon to become acquainted with the axe of the vandals. 

 For, during that dark period of fifty-two months, after 

 committing every manner of crime, they also perpetrated 

 the monstrous felony of laying low our forests ; for let 

 us remember that they have cut down several hundred 

 millions worth of our trees. 



"Everything went — venerable shade trees of the road- 

 side, the parks, and the fields, elms and poplars ; experi- 

 mental trees, exotic or curious; historical trees; forest 

 trees such as oaks, ash, beech, or of the orchard, such 

 as walnut trees ; massive growths of both deciduous and 

 indeciduous varieties; forests belonging to the nation, to 

 communes, to charitable institutions, or to private indi- 

 viduals ; nothing was spared, old or young, tall timber or 



coppice wood, not even the 

 bedding. 



"They had set out to 

 leave nothing standing 

 when they were finally com- 

 pelled to let go under the 

 irresistible pressure of our 

 victorious troops, and in 

 some cases left their cut- 

 ting unfinished." 



Much was done by the 

 Belgians during the four 

 years in the effort to save 

 some of the forests, to have 

 the young growth protected 

 even if the usable trees had 

 to be sacrificed. Notes, 

 protests, appeals, supplications, were made to the Ger- 

 man officials, but all without other result than curt 

 refusals to modify the orders for steady and systematic 

 destruction which were being issued from time to time. 

 To General Baron von Bissing was pointed out the 

 fact, so familiar to every German officer, that a certain 

 area of forest is absolutely essential to the prosperity 

 and even the vitality of a nation, a truth put into applica- 

 tion with jealous care in the various states of Germany. 

 He was told that in Belgium for the last twenty-five or 

 thirty years, the nation, the provinces, the communes, 

 and numerous owners have united their efforts with a 

 view to increasing the forested area, which was obviously 

 insufficient, in view of the imperative needs of the nation 

 in the way of timber, as well as out of consideration for 



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