358 THE AMERICAN FOREST ENGINEERS IN FRANCE 



France until May, 1918. It worked for the British forces until October 

 of the same year, cutting over 14,000,000 board feet of lumber and 

 railroad ties and beating all of the Canadian and English units under 

 the British Director of Forestry in its record of production. With these 

 operations under its direction, the Forestry Section of the American 

 Army assumed a truly allied character and was able to render valuable 

 assistance to our comrades in arms on the far-flung battle line. 



WHAT THE AMERICAN WOODSMEN LEARNED IN FRANCE 



The American woodsmen in the forest regiments have learned much 

 from their experience in French forests. The change from new world 

 to old world methods of cutting and from new to old world viewpoints 

 toward the forest was very sharp. The average lumberjack arriving in 

 France was scornful of the restrictions imposed by the French foresters 

 — of the smooth hardwood stumps which he was required to cut, of the 

 limited felling which he was permitted to do in many fine stands of timber, 

 of the sawing of big trees level with the ground, and of the watchfulness 

 to prevent injury to seedlings and saplings. But as the months in the 

 French forests passed by most of the American soldiers appreciated the 

 fundamental common sense behind these forestry rules. Particularly as 

 they came to know the French country people and to appreciate the 

 scarcity of wood on their farms and in their fireplaces, they began to 

 understand the whole thing as a natural outgrowth of French economic 

 life, on a par with their intensive agriculture. They sensed forestry as 

 simply another expression of French thrift, of the national genius for 

 making the most out of their limited resources. 



The average American lumberjack left France with a far different 

 attitude toward her forestry practice than he had upon arrival. How 

 lasting the effects of this first-hand experience in old world methods will 

 be is problematical. But certainly many of these thousands of woods- 

 men have brought back to our own forests a totally new conception of 

 their economic value and of practical means for conserving it. 



THE WAR A VINDICATION OF FRENCH FORESTRY 



Let it be emphasized in closing that probably never in the history of 

 the world has the forest policy of a nation been so clearly vindicated as 

 was that of France by the war of 1914. Wood was one of the most vital 

 military necessities, and the allied armies drew the great bulk of their 

 supplies from the forests of France. More than that, her forests had a 

 strategic value for defense of the highest importance. For the forest 

 barriers in northern France and for the abundant supplies of timber 

 available to the battle lines, the allied world must thank the patience 



