building anew. That the Board, backed by the government, 

 has taken up the problem with vigour and great energy is 

 typical of the French spirit which remains undiminished in 

 the face of the greatest difficulties. Nevertheless, the authori- 

 ties all admit that, given the most favourable developments, 

 it will take at least a century to bring France's forests back to 

 the state of 'productiveness in which they were prior to the 

 summer of 1914. 



A survey made immediately after the Armistice showed 

 that in the territory occupied by the enemy, the forests had 

 been ruthlessly destroyed, irrespective alike of the German 

 army's actual requirements, and of the effect upon France's 

 economic future. The war zones spread over eleven forest- 

 bearing departments, including Aisne, Ardennes, Marne, 

 Meurthe, and Moselle, Meuse, Nord, Oise, Pas-de-Calais, 

 Somme, Vosges, and Belfort Territory. In these parts 300,000 

 acres of State forests, 322, 500 acres of parish forests and 922,000 

 acres of privately-owned forests were subjected to devastation, 

 in over one-third of this territory the productive capacity of 

 the forests was completely destroyed. Over half a million 

 acres must be refitted and rewooded to make it of any use. 

 Another area of 375,000 acres shows the effects of abusive, 

 premeditatively destructive, or wasteful fellings in which re- 

 serve plantings have been almost obliterated. It is calculated 

 that it will require from 60 to 100 years of intensive cultivation 

 to bring these forests back to normal. Their loss involves to 

 France an annual shortage of over 1,000,000 cubic meters of 

 wood. 



France looks to Germany to assist in meeting her timber 

 necessities as well as to provide some of the funds needed for 

 rebuilding her forests. The Peace Treaty stipulated that Ger- 

 many should deliver to France all the timber necessary for 

 reconstructing the devastated regions, and this work is now 

 going on. It also obligated Germany to make further de- 

 liveries of timber on account of the indemnity due to France. 

 These deliveries have been hampered by the lack of adequate 

 transportation facilities, but, eventually, they are expected to 

 reduce the scarcity of timber in France until such time as 

 the forests can again become productive. 



Meanwhile, the French people themselves are not losing 

 time nor sparing any effort to hasten the coming of that 



