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AMERICAN FORESTRY 



Photo by Ititcniatioiial Xcus Service. 



A 1-RK.\CH OBSERVATION" POST 



Here the trunks and branches of trees in one of the French forests have been cleverly used in an 

 effort to shield and to hide an advanced post. 



Silesia, according to the Berlin Tageblatt. Around the 

 district of \\'ittchenau some villages have been evacu- 

 ated, and war prisoners are engaged in throwing up 

 trenches to assist the fire brigades in fighting the fires." 



A newspaper article widely printed in the United 

 States says: "It is reported that the French and German 

 Governments are utilizing war prisoners for reforesta- 

 tion work. It is said that vast forests have been entirely 

 destroyed by the fighting. The ground in many places 

 if absolutely sterile, the announcement says, because of 

 fumes and gases from bombs and explosives of various 

 kinds. It is understood that the French Government i-^ 

 paying fifty cents per day to the German prisoners for 

 the work. The regular foresters are all at the front." 



A correspondent of the New Orleans Lumber Trade 

 Journal, who is a petty officer in the German Army com- 

 manded by \'on Hindenburg. contends that the forest 

 destruction in the war zone is not so great as some 

 reports indicate. He says: 



"Lately I have often had the opportunity to visit the 

 battlefields of the glorious victories of Marshal Hind- 

 enburg near Tannenberg and round the Masurian seas. 

 It was evident that the eflfect of the war in general on 



the forests was not so great by 

 far as some forest experts 

 feared. Naturally in those parts 

 of forests in which fights have 

 taken place, and that were for a 

 longer time covered with show- 

 ers of cannon balls, a great num- 

 ber of trees have been broken 

 and much more have been 

 wounded. Even the mills in 

 later time will have some trouble 

 in cutting this wood, as every 

 now and then rifle balls and 

 pieces of iron from exploding 

 shells have penetrated into the 

 wood. But compared with the 

 whole of the East Prussian for- 

 ests, the direct losses of trees 

 are small. A very interesting 

 feature in those parts that were 

 occupied by the Russians during 

 the last winter are the niunerous 

 subterranean rooms, that in one 

 place alone, as I calculate, may 

 have given shelter for more than 

 10,000 men. For miles long the 

 soil of the forest is holed in this 

 way. All rooms have b^en cov- 

 ered by wooden props and earth. 

 Many thousand cubic feet of 

 wood from smaller trees are 

 used for that. At other places, 

 as, for instance, the wonderful street along a small 

 channel, the old oak, willow and elm trees have been cut 

 by the Russians to get free shooting. But on the whole 

 tliese devastations of wood offend more the feeling and 

 the love of nature than that they are important in the 

 sense of forest economy. 



"By far more important are the devastations of edi- 

 fices. It is highly interesting to see that these devasta- 

 tions stop immediately at the old Russian frontier. If 

 the Russians say that the destructions are caused only 

 by some undisciplined people, such as Cossacks and 

 Tscherkessians, this fact proves the contrary, for an 

 undisciplined troop makes no difference between its own 

 and foreign country. The destructions are caused by 

 the direct order of Russian army commanders who have 

 ordered the destruction of all public and private property 

 of the country. One may calculate that in this way more 

 than 20,000 houses have been burnt at places where 

 never a gun has been fired nor a fight has taken place. 

 From 10 to 20 million cubic feet of timber, mostly of 

 German pine, will be wanted for the reconstruction of 

 these houses. 



"In the timber market, so far as foreign timber is con- 

 cerned, the situation is practically unaltered since my last 

 report. Ash is wanted at all times, but the price is fall- 

 ing a bit." 



