The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1917-06-26
French Fields Recaptured
Blooming Like Rose.
HUN SCOURGE IS OVERCOME
Troops Give Day to CultVating
Crops on Way to Front.

| square ktlometers Of French soil,
blasted, blackened and devasted as
though God himself had just passed
over 1t his most terrible scourSe.
Today, under the magic touch OF
the French armies, who know both
how to fight and how to work, this
thousand square kilometers OF re-
deemed France, is blossoming and
blooming like q rose.
To a person who passed through
this district the day after the Ger
man hordes had passed. and who
passes there today, the change almost
surpasses human belief.
The contrast is so great that one
Is tempted to believe that other ele-
ments than merely those Of the
French mind and the French arm
have entered into the transformation.
One Jumps impulsively to the convic-
ton that Mother Nature herself had
lent a helping and lavish hand in
an effort to recompense the smitten
district from the sufferings 1t had
undergone.
Fields Now Blooming.
Entering this sunny. smiling, YER
dant district for the first time since
the German devastations, a persons
first startling question to himself Is
Did the Germans really destroy any
thing? Wasn't II all merely a
myth" II seems humanity impossible
that the change there apparent could
be wrought in less than three months.
Nothing has been done toward re-
storing the ruined towns, villages.
and farm houses. But the original
impression OF unutterAble devastation
l.. -
ed by the fact that they are now al
most hidden in waving grain fields,
smiling vineyards and poisoning
orchards.
The French soldiers working under
direction of French generals, who
know other things than mere military
operations, have found the means OF
saving thousands OF trees.
Throughout the entire district dew
asted by the Germans there were
thousands OF trees that the close pur-
suit OF the French kept the Germans
from having time completely to cut
down. Instead, the Kultured Tree
Killers cut off a circle of bark around
the trunk OF the tree, which with a
few days exposure to the sun would
be sufficient to kill peach, plum.
apple, apricot, and cherry trees that
ndu peen ndAA century dlAaiuAHB
their then actual product~eness.
Tree Wounds Bound Up.
These trees presented the easiest
problem. The wounds were merely
bound up like the wounds Of a SOL
der. Thousands OF army surgeons
and Red Cross ambulance drivers and
stretchsr carriers assisted In this
work. The circles were the bark had
been cut away was first covered with
q grating cement, and the entire
wound then carefully bandAEed up
after with the same bandageJ that
had been prepared for human liL1bs.
So great was the number OF trees
in this way that the entire available
supply OF grating preparation was
quickly exhausted. Tar was then
used as a substitute and finally even
a loamy clay. Substitutes for surgi-
cal bandages also had to be found and
in the end il was discovered that moss
twisted and tied about the dressed
wound was an effective as anything
else.
A much more serious problem OF
course presented itself where the
trees had been entirely cut or sawed
down. But here French genius also
solved the problem.
The stumps protruding. usually two
or three feet from the ground. were
first trimmed off in a scientific man
ner so as to conserve the sap and
prevent the death OF the roots. This
stump was then treated with the
grating paste and carefully band
aged Till the cut-down tree lying at
the size ouoded from the sap ana Ire
that renamed In II atter oeing cut
down. branches that showed great
NUMBERS OF ouos ana other SIGNS OF
exceptional Nltallty were then cut OH
ana iinally grated INTO the caretully
prepared stump.
!ooay these sratts are IN tull lear
ana blossom the roots appear 10 nave
Oeeh ehtiFely saved ana oy TINS proc
ess years nave oeen saved IN restor-
ing the doWncut orcharos OF france.