FRENCH FORESTS IN THE WAR ZONE 



By Courtesy of the New York World. 



BARBED WIRE ENTANGLEMENTS OUTSIDE OF ANTWERP. 



BOTH THE ALLIES AND THE GERMANS HAVE FELLED THOUSANDS OF TREES TO MAKE POSTS FOR STRINGING BARBED WIRE 

 ENTANGLEMENTS LIKE THESE SHOWN IN THE PICTURE, OUTSIDE OF CITIES AND IN FORTIFIED 



PLACES ALONG THE BATTLE FRONT. 



its natural beauty, and the abundance 

 of game. It is, however, not quite so 

 popular, and the annual income from 

 hunting and shooting leases averages 

 only about $7,000. When damage to 

 surrounding crops is caused by the 

 game, particularly the red deer, the 

 lessee of the hunting license is forced 

 to make good the damage to the injured 

 farmer. 



An interesting feature of the timber 

 sales here is that they are all made in 

 September of each year by "Dutch 

 auction." The trees are first offered at 

 a price higher than it is actually expected 

 to realize, and this is then called down 

 by the auctioneer until some one cries 

 out "je prends" (I take). An annual 

 revenue of about $122,400, or approx- 

 imately $3.80 per acre, is received from 

 sales of wood alone. Another interest- 

 ing feature is the utilization of the heavy 

 crops of beech nuts which occur about 

 once in every seven years. One year, 

 salad oil to the value of $30,000 was 

 made from them, in addition to 300 

 bushels of seed being sent to other 

 forests in France and sufficient seed 

 retained to restock the cut-over areas. 

 Among the various wood-working in- 

 dustries in Villers-Cotterets is an estab- 

 lishment which turns out annually 

 400,000 pairs of wooden soles. These 

 are made chiefly by boys and cost 2 

 cents per pair for labor and 5 cents for 

 wood. 



In the extreme north of France, only 

 65 miles from the North Sea and almost 

 touching the Belgian frontier, lie the 

 state forest of Amand and the private 

 forest of Raismes, in which desperate 

 fighting has recently been reported. 

 Near them is situated the town of 

 Valenciennes, formerly best known as 

 the birthplace of Froissart and Watteau 

 and as the original source of the famous 

 lace of the same name, and recently 

 unenviably prominent in the war de- 

 spatches. 



The forest of Raismes forms a com- 

 pact area of 3,500 acres, which is sur- 

 rounded on three sides by the State 

 forest of Amand, comprising 8,190 acres. 

 The latter formerly belonged in part to 

 the abbeys of Vicogne and St. Amand, 

 but at the time of the French Revolu- 

 tion these ecclesiastical possessions were 

 confiscated and joined to the rest of the 

 state forest. The country here is low 

 and flat, having an elevation of only 50 

 to 100 feet. Owing to its nearness to 

 the coast, the temperature is more 

 equable than farther inland, but because 

 of the lowness of the land late spring 

 frosts are likely to be severe. The forest 

 areas are underlain with coal, and mine 

 galleries extend in all directions below 

 the surface. These often cause a sink- 

 ing of the land with the formation of 

 swamps and subsequent death of the 

 trees. Sometimes the swamps are filled up 

 with refuse from the mines and replanted. 



