1254 



Canadian Forestry Journal, August, 1917 



part of it, we are assisting materially 

 in conservation of the forests. And 

 how? Simply by leaving our feather- 

 ed friends unmolested; we do not 

 have to expend one dollar. The task 

 should not be hard. 



Jas. Buckland in concluding his 

 pamphlet on "The Value of Birds to 

 Man" says as follows: — "It is the 

 nature of infamies, as well as of dis- 

 ease whose progress is not checked, 

 to daily grow worse; and if the present 

 day wasteful and depraved practice 

 of denuding the world of one of its 

 most valuable natural resources is 

 not checked, then will be wrought a 

 mischief, a universal disaster more 



awful in its results than words can 

 express." 



With the great war going on and 

 the food being one of the most serious 

 problems confronting the whole world, 

 each and every one can help by pro- 

 tecting the birds, thereby protecting 

 the crops and forests, and thus doing 

 a "little" bit even if they do not go 

 to the front. There is no time to 

 lose if we want to see birds in suffi- 

 cient quantity in the near future, and 

 the present time is very opportune 

 to take up the duty, for no other 

 word than "duty" can express the 

 situation. 



Restoring War-Damaged Forests 



By Prof. A. Jolyet. 



Ecole Nationale des Eaux et Forets. 



The North East of France is a well 

 wooded region and it is natural that 

 numerous forests should have suffered 

 as a result of the operations of war. 

 However, though the damage in- 

 curred may have been great, it does 

 not follow that the forests must neces- 

 sarily be destroyed. 



A forest is not merely formed by 

 the sum of the plants living therein 

 but also by the forest soil, or primitive 

 soil modified by the existence of the 

 forest, and by" the sum of the, plant 

 andt animal Ufe there developed. The 

 "etat boise" (wooded state) so pro- 

 duced represents a valuable capital 

 and it would be a serious mistake 

 not to utilise it as soon as possible, 

 for this state or condition, though 

 surviving the destruction of the forest 

 population, does not last for ever. 



There are two methods of regen- 

 erating a forest in these conditions: 

 one natural and the other artificial. 

 The former is not profitable, being 

 too long, whereas the interest of the 

 owner lies in obtaining commercial 

 timber from his forest as soon as 

 possible. 



Mutilated Trees 



The first point then to establish 

 in restoring a forest damaged by war 

 is whether the injured trees are def- 

 initely broken or merely bruised. In 

 the first case they must be cut down 

 level with the ground and, provided 

 the species is a deciduous one and 

 not too old, new shoots will then 

 emerge from the stump. On the 

 other hand, if the tree is a conifer, 

 no shoots will be formed, but by 

 cutting down the tree the danger of 

 encouraging insect parasites will be 

 avoided. In the second case also, 

 felling is almost always advisable, for 

 a mutilated tree is not likely to pro- 

 duce healthy wood. 



As a result of the felling, gaps of 

 greater or less extent will occur. 

 These it will be necessary to fill up 

 by means of appropriate species: (a) 

 encouraging the natural reconstruc- 

 tion of the forest with wild species, or 

 at any rate not impeding the same 

 by an excessive amount of cover; 

 (6) capable of furnishing within a 

 short period good marketable timber 

 the sale of which will enable the pro- 



