Canadian Forestry Journal, April, 1918 



1649 



Widening the Field for Aeroplanes 



Apropos of recent articles in these 

 columns on the use of airplanes 

 in forest protection, it is interesting 

 to learn that there are at least 

 ten thousand airplanes in constant 

 readiness for use on the Western 

 front, with probably thrice that 

 number of trained pilots. When the 

 war broke out the principal European 

 powers had 2,786 military planes, 

 and slightly over three thousand 

 trained military pilots. Before peace 

 comes, provided the United States 

 completes its aviation construction 

 programme, there will be not less 

 than twenty thousand air-planes in 

 commission, and probably sixty 

 thousand trained pilots. Is this vast 

 capital investment to be of no value 

 to civilization after the war? Are 

 the pilots to go back to their for- 

 mer occupation — wingless eaglets 

 compelled to crawl on earth when 

 they would fly in the upper blue? 



Edgar C. Middleton, a pioneer 

 aviator, whose book "Airfare," has 

 recently been published by Constable 

 & Company, and deals in a very 

 thorough way with the airplane, 

 the seaplane, and the airship in 

 peace and war, is convinced that 

 great aerial fleets will be built up 

 after the war not only for the trans- 

 portation of passengers and mails, 

 but of certain classes of freight, 

 including silks, spices, tea, furs, ivory, 

 and similar valuable commodities. 

 He even outlines the principal aerial 

 trade routes from London to the 

 East and South, the Western route 

 across the Atlantic having still to 

 be tried out. The Atlantic stretches 

 are too wide to permit of airplanes 

 as at present operated carrying either 

 passengers or mails, the entire lifting 

 capacity being required for the petrol 

 necessary for the journey. 



An illustration cf the route to 

 Cape Town from London by the 

 West African aerial service is thus 

 presented by Lieut. Aliddleton: 

 Allowing a minimum average of 

 110 miles an hour, with light wind, 



and half an hour for each landing, 

 an airplane leaving London at 8 

 on a Monday morning would keep 

 the following time-table: 



London, 8 a.m., Monday. 



Paris, 10 a.m., Alonday. 



Bordeaux, 1 p.m., Monday 



Gibraltar, 8 p.m., Monday. 



Fez, 9 p.m., Monday. 



Lagos, 5.30 p.m., Tuesday. 



Loango, 2 a.m., Wednesday. 



Johannesburg, 8 p.m., Wednesday. 



Cape Town, 4 a.m., Thursday. 



Total time London-Cape Town 

 2 days, 20 hours. By steamer, via 

 Funchal, the time taken is three 

 weeks, which gives an advantage 

 of two and a half weeks. Another 

 route to Cape Town would be Lon- 

 don-Paris-Lyons-Rome- Alexandria- 

 Ankobar- Mombasa- Zanzibar-Bula- 

 wayo-Johannesburg-Cape Town. 



STONE CROPS VS. TREES 



([\ingslon S;andard) 



In the days long past these 

 districts were gone over for pine; 

 later on for other timber; farmers 

 settled on the partially cleared ground 

 in ordar to grow supplies for the 

 lumber camps. But theirs was ter- 

 rible work; the land was unfit for 

 proper cultivation; the "stone walls" 

 which are to be seen there are 

 sufficient proof of this. "Stoning" 

 was a regular part of the farmer's 

 and his family's work and we have 

 been told by a man who w^nt through 

 this from his boyhood that he often 

 used to stone till his fingers bled. 

 It is little wonder that one leading 

 agriculturist has said that every 

 crop raised there represented blood 

 and tears. 



The Toronto Globe says that the 

 fact has been familiar for a quarter 

 of a century to piivate observers 

 that the "ranching" of cattle is 

 perfectly feasible on the so-called 

 "waste" lands of Ontario, meaning 

 those northern areas that have been 

 stripped of their crop of valuable 

 timber, especially the white pine. 



