Cauddian Forcsliij Journal, Fvbruaiij, 1918 



1545 



son, Forestry Branch Inspector for 

 Alberta, asked me to i,ave him some 

 news of operations, etc., in my work. 

 I don't know whether he meant 

 Forestry work or Flying. "Certainly 

 I think that the new machine would 

 be a wonderful acquisition to the 

 Forestry Branch for reconnaissance 

 and photography work. I am not 

 permitted to discuss its capabilities 

 but I can assure you that it is the 

 fastest machine in the air, and can 

 travel and climb tremendous dis- 

 tances with a passenger and some 

 load of bombs. From the Crowsnest 

 to the Brazeau shouldn't take more 

 than two and a half hours. 



SHELL FIRE IN FORESTS 



Major W. A. Lyndon, France, for- 

 merly Chief Fire Ranger in the 

 Crowsnest for the Dominion Forestry 

 Branch, in acknowledging the quar- 

 terly bulletin sent by the Branch to 

 officers now in the field, writes: 

 "I have been for the past two 

 months living on the battle ground of 

 France. There is not a building 

 standing within ten miles of us. 

 Where the villages stood there is 

 nothing left. It is a sight to see but 

 gets very tiresome to work in day 

 after day among nothing but wreck 

 and ruin. We went through a forest 

 today, that is, what once was one. 

 There was not a foot of ground that 

 had not been turned over by shells, 

 not a tree left standing, only a lot of 

 stubs split and shattered — no pro- 

 tection whatever. It reminds me a 

 great deal of what it is like after one 

 of our big bush fires, only ten times 

 worse. 



LOGGING ITNDER FIRE 



Quarter Master Sergeant S. R. 

 Clark, Canadian Forestry Corps, 

 France, formerly Forest Supervisor 

 of the Brazeau Forest Reserve of the 

 Forestry Branch, Department of the 

 Interior and brother of G. H. Clark, 

 Dominion Seed Commissioner, writ- 

 ing to the head Office, Ottawa, says: 

 I hnd the French methods of forestry 

 very interesting. This forest has 

 been under Government supervision 

 for many years and the subdivision 

 into compartments based on soil and 

 the resultant type is definite proof of 



successful management. The or- 

 ganization of course is strictly mili- 

 tary and prior to this war it was 

 sufficiently trained to go to the front 

 as a unit. Only veterans are in 

 charge now-. This forest which was 

 cut over by the Iluns about last 

 February consisted of oak, 60 per 

 cent.; beech, M) per cent.; birch, 5 per 

 cent, and the remainder blue beech 

 and ash. Lieut. Tilt (formerly at- 

 tached to the Forestry Branch in 

 Alberta) made an examination of the 

 area during early summer but owing 

 to the large amount of felled trees 

 which the Iluns cut and were unable 

 to utilize before their retreat he found 

 a reliable estimate difficult to make. 

 Another interesting pari of our 

 location here is the daily serenade 

 we receive from Fritz. To date they 

 have caused very little inconvenience 

 other than necessitating a transfer 

 of the crews while the shells are 

 coming over. Of course this relieves 

 monotony and as we have completed 

 the cleaning up of this forest it is 

 probable that we will not be located 

 so close to the line when we move 

 again as it is not customary for non- 

 combatant units to be placed so close 

 to the firing line. 



SHELL SPLINTERS IN LOGS 

 Captain A. W. Bently, hSth Bri- 

 gade, France, formerly of the head 

 office of the Forestry Branch, De- 

 partment of the Interior writes: 

 "Having spent nearly. two years out 

 here with the guns I was very in- 

 terested to read about the French 

 Forests. I have never seen a French 

 forest yet except from the window 

 of a railway carriage whilst going on 

 leave (three times). The remains 

 of a French forest after our high 

 explosive shell has done its w^ork, is 

 only fit for firewood and that is so full 

 of splinters that a saw cannot be 

 used. Wedges are the only means of 

 splitting up the pieces. 



I hope to get back some day to 

 wdiere these forests, are still intact 

 and unscathed and see one. All our 

 material, beech slabs mostly, is cut 

 up and sent up fresh from the stump. 

 Small pine poles are sent up as gun 

 pit props. 



