Canadian Forestrij Journal, April, 1917 



1059 



piercing shells, which should attain 

 great penetration before they go o(T, 

 and for which the majority of high 

 explosives would be unsuitable be- 

 cause of their explosiveness on con- 

 tact. Another product of the for- 

 ests, resin, is employed for filling the 

 spaces between bullets in shrajincl, 

 so that on explosion the missiles will 

 be evenly distributed in all directions. 

 Its brittleness and at the same time, 

 its hardness, together wdth its low 

 melting point, fit it admirably for the 

 purpose. 



The period since the beginning of 

 the war has witnessed a great amount 

 of discussion in England as to whether 

 Germany is actually employing w^ood 

 from which to make the nitrocellulose 

 for her smokeless explosives. When, 

 after a long delay, England declared 

 cotton contraband of war, it was 

 maintained by many that this would 

 not inconvenience Germany greatly, 

 since she was already making ex- 

 plosives from wood cellulose. Dur- 

 ing the discussions that follow^ed, it 

 was proposed to destroy the forests 

 of Germany by a giant fleet of aero- 

 planes armed with bombs; however, 

 as one English editor naively remarks: 

 "This would scarcely be feasible, since 

 about one-third of Germany is for- 

 ested." 



The First Smokeless 



In this connection, it is an interest- 

 ing fact that the first successful 

 smokeless powder was made from 

 wood about 1865. This powder, in- 

 vented by Schultze, consists of a mix- 

 ture of saltpeter and nitrated purified 

 wood. While inferior to gun cotton 

 in ballistic powder, it still retains 

 high favor among sportsmen. Vari- 

 ous other explosives, known as "white 

 powder," "yellow shooting powder" 

 and "Bautzen blasting powder," con- 

 tain nitrated lignocellulose. 



Aside from munitions wood is serv- 

 ing many useful purposes in the w^ar. 

 Millions of gunstocks are made from 

 American walnut, which is the best 

 wood yet found for the part. A new 

 rifle, it has been estimated, is re- 

 quired monthly for every man at the 

 front. In the modern infantry wea- 

 pon the wooden stock is prolonged to 

 the end of the barrel, which means 



just so much more wood needed in 

 its manufacture. So great, in fact, 

 has been the demand by gun makers 

 for seasoned walnut that it has often 

 been necessary to use birch and other 

 w'oods as substitutes. 



With characteristic foresight, the 

 Germans brought portable sawmills 

 with them into France, and have 

 utilized their enemy's forests to sup- 

 ply their need for timber at the froftt, 

 while reserving their own forests for 

 home demand. The development of 

 trench warfare, when vast armies of 

 men dig themselves in on fronts hun- 

 dreds of miles long, calls for an am- 

 ount of timber for trench walls, floors, 

 and braces that is difficult to esti- 

 mate. Millions of feet of lumber are 

 required also for temporary buildings 

 behind the fighting line and for hous- 

 ing non-combatants made homeless 

 by the fortunes of war. Still more 

 goes into bridges, wdiarves, and the 

 like. High explosives have made it 

 possible for a retreating army to 

 destroy stone and steel structures 

 behind them in short order, and such 

 structures the pursuing army must 

 have the means of quickly replacing. 

 Wood is, in most cases, the only ma- 

 terial that will answer the purpose, 

 and it served the German army in 

 good stead during the pursuit of the 

 Russian army through Poland. 



Turning from the materials needed 

 for actual fighting to the no less im- 

 portant ones required for proper care 

 of the wounded, we find Germany, 

 fully prepared for England's embargo, 

 making a soft, absorbent surgical cot- 

 ton from wood cellulose. Two fac- 

 tories in Sweden also are making this 

 substitute. Slings are made from 

 tough crepe paper, and splints from 

 fiber boards. 



Paper Shirts 



Wood is also contributing to the 

 personal comfort of the men at the 

 front. Russian soldiers are wearing 

 paper shirts made in Japan, where 

 such clothing has been in use for 

 many years. The chief raw' material 

 for the manufacture of paper is, of 

 course, wood pulp. Paper clothing 

 is warm and cheap, and special water- 

 proofing processes are overcoming its 

 tendency to tear w^hen wet. It may 



