450 



Canadian Forestry Journal, March, ipi6. 



son that the fighting" has for many 

 months been confined to a rather 

 narrow strip of country. 



"One might subdivide this area 

 into two zones : the zone of constant 

 bombardment, that is the zone of the 

 trenches where there is an almost 

 constant hail of shells and the zone 

 of intermittent bombardment, this 

 being the territory where the local 

 range heavy guns drop a shell now 

 and then, searching for the opposing 

 artillery or sweeping the roads in 

 search of transports or columns of 

 troops. 



"On the areas covered by the con- 

 stant fire there are no living trees or 

 even large shrubs left; in fact I've 

 seen small patches where it seems 

 that even the grass blades must be 

 pretty well frayed out. Here, na- 

 turally in daytime, one keeps down 

 in the trenches as much as possible, 

 and in the dark one is too busy per- 

 fecting and repairing one's particu- 

 lar portion of trench to look around 

 very much. 



"However, by peeping out very 

 cautiously in. the daytime one may 

 get an occasional glimpse of what 

 used to be a patch of woods or a 

 few isolated trees. 



"All species look pretty much the 

 same now ; a stub more or less split 

 up, with one or more bits of broken 

 branches still clinging on near the 

 top. There are no leaves, twigs, or 

 small branches remaining, and even 

 most of the bark has been whipped 

 off by flying metal. 



"The earth is generally broken up 

 and pitted very generously with 

 shell craters. Now the explosion of 

 a good many of these shells, for in- 

 stance those containing lyddite, gen- 

 erate fumes which stain everything 

 in the immediate vicinity ; sand 

 bags, clothes, and the very earth it- 



self. As far as I could make out 

 these fumes constantly settling on 

 the soil will kill, or at any rate dam- 

 age, its vegetation, and probably 

 will reduce its fertility, for a time at 

 least. However, when the war is 

 over our French and Belgian friends 

 will be able to tell us all about this. 



"As to the effect of the gas on the 

 soil, I have never been in the gass- 

 ed country, so do not know much 

 about it. They say that it kills the 

 leaves on trees and shrubs. 



"The long range bombardment of 

 the second class doesn't do any ap- 

 preciable damage to woodlands be- 

 cause the shells do not cover much 

 of the ground and are generally 

 dropped on other things than trees. 



"A good many poles are taken 

 from this area immediately behind 

 the trenches for use in earthworks. 

 This undoubtedly takes a good deal 

 of material from the future yield of 

 the stands. However, owing to the 

 great size of the area they are re- 

 moved from it is not very noticeable 

 in any particular spot. 



When the time of reconstruction 

 comes there will be an increased de- 

 mand for timber for a time. All 

 buildings, although in Europe large- 

 ly made of brick or stone, require 

 some wood in their construction. 

 Most of the buildings close to the 

 scene of the present operations will 

 have to be completely rebuilt. Wood 

 goes into railway construction, and 

 a great many public works ; all of 

 which have suffered very heavily 

 wherever near the trenches. 



"Hence we will not only have 

 damaged forests on the areas affect- 

 ed, but also a need for timber which 

 for some time will be much greater 

 than before the war." 



