MAIMED TREES IN FRANCE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1749, 21 August 1917, Page 1

MAIMED TREES IN FRANCE.

■ ♦ REPAIRING EUIN IN FRANCE. Mr Henry Wood, the special correspondent of (lie United Press of Ameriea will) (lie Freneli Armies, described how the French have rescued ninny of the trees mutilated hy the Germans in (heir retreat. He says: — “There were thousands of trees that the close pursuit of the Preach prevented the Germans from completely cutting' down; instead, the tree-killers cut off a circle of hark around the trunk, which with a few days’ exposure to the sun would be sufficient to kill peach, plum, apple, apricot, and cherry trees that had been half a century obtaining' their productiveness. These trees presented (he easiest problem. The wounds were merely bound up like the wounds of a soldier. Thousands of army surgeons and Red Cross ambulance drivers and stretcher-bearers assisted in this work - . The circle where the bark had been cut away was first covered with a special grafting wax, and the entire wound then bandaged up often with bandages that had been prepared for human limbs. So great was the number of trees that had to be dressed in this way that the entire available supply of grafting preparation was quickly exhausted. Tar was then used as a substitute, and finally even a loamy clay. Substitutes for surgical bandages oflen had to be found, and in the end it was discovered that moss twisted and tied about the dressed wound was as effective as anything else. A much more serious problem presented itself where the trees hail been entirely cut or sawn down. But here. French genius also solved the problem. The stumps, protruding usually two or three feet from the ground, were first (rimmed off so as to conserve the sap and prevent the death of the* roots, and (hen treated with the grafting paste and carefully bandaged till the cutdown tree lying at the side budded from the sap and life that remained in it. Branches that showed greed numbers of buds and other signs of exceptional vitality were then cut off and finally grafted into the carefully prepare*! stumps. To-day these grafts are in full leaf and blossom. The roots appear to have been entirely saved by this process, and years have been saved in restoring the cut-down orchards of France. ■ On every hand are also to he seen carefully cultivated and sown fields, each bearing its little painted sign, “Terrain cultive par I’Armec.” The few horses that are being used for the Helds are those whose guns and ammunition caissons wait unharnessed at the side of the Held to be taken up again as soon as a little ploughing or harrowing is done. Likewise, except for an occasional old man or old woman working away on small gardens, all of the heavy work of the fields is lieing done by soldiers. As the troops pass, either going to or from the front, they stop and dedicate the day to the cultivation of the redeemed Helds. The next day they pass on, and other troops take up the work.