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AMERICAN FORESTRY 



From The Illustrated London News. 



HAVOC AMONG WAYSIDE TREES. 



ON ROADS ALONG WHICH THERE HAS BEEN MUCH FIGHTING MOST OF THE TREES ARE DESTROYED EITHER BY ARTILLERY 



FIRE OR ARE CUT DOWN TO MAKE BARRICADES OR HAMPER PURSUIT. ON THIS ROAD THE GERMANS 



PASSED ON THEIR RETREAT FROM THE MARNE. 



forest offers an excellent opportunity 

 for effective scouting. Natives of the 

 country, thoroughly familiar with local 

 conditions, find it comparatively easy 

 to steal by outposts and to observe the 

 enemy without being detected. 



In the war zone of northeastern 

 France conditions as regard forest cover 

 vary widely. In the roughly rectangular 

 area to the northeast of the Seine and 

 northwest of the Oise, the country is 

 for the most part very flat, and is almost 

 wholly given up to agriculture. To the 

 south of the Oise and the Aisne, it be- 

 comes more undulating, with low hills, 

 and here the farming land is inter- 

 spersed with patches of forest and wood- 

 land. Still farther to the south and east 

 along the Meuse River and in the Vosges 

 Mountains, the country becomes still 

 more rugged and the forests more 

 abundant. 



The topography and the distribution 

 of the forests throughout this region 

 probably account largely for the decision 



of the Germans to hurl their main attack 

 against France through Belgium rather 

 than through the more difficult route to 

 the south. To these factors can also 

 be attributed in large measure the rapid 

 advance of the right wing of the German 

 army in the early stages of the war, 

 while the left made little or no progress. 

 In the north the comparatively level, 

 unwooded country interposed practically 

 no obstacle to the free movement of 

 the armies, and as a result the early 

 advance of the Germans here was al- 

 most incredibly swift. During the 

 same period, farther to the south in the 

 region of Verdun and Nancy, the rugged, 

 heavily wooded country, in conjunction 

 with fortifications and strongly en- 

 trenched troops, held both armies 

 practically stationary. 



To what extent the forests in the war 

 zone will be injured during the progress 

 of the war is problematical. That they 

 will suffer more or less, however, can 

 not be doubted. Much wood will be 



