Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1918-01-18
CUTTING WOOD IN
CARNEGIE FOREST
Continued from Page L.

| funds was subscribed by the dllltltnl
lumber interests, many Of the men in
terested laying aside their private
business entirely and giving their full
time to details Of the organization,
"IIow well the work was done"
writes Shea, was indicated by the fact
that when the equipment arrived we
found that not a single thing was miss
ing to prevent US starting operations
Immediately, 1t also shows much
credit to American efficiency that in
less than one month from the first
meeting to consider the proposition in
this country, we were ready TO en-
bark,
The Voyage OF the Lumbermen
"The ship on which we left an At
lantic port was one OF the largest YES
sells afloat; about 800 feet long and OF
$4,000 ton capacity, We arrived first
at Canadian port for troops and
reached Great Britain on the ith OF
July, after q pleasant aud uneventful
trip. There were Storica III American
papers saying that we were fired on
by submarines, but this is an error and
hardly fair to the Captain and crew
who piloted 5000 OF us safely across
We were under cruiser convoy all the
way, and the second night before our
arrival we were met by five destroyers,
Whatever fear we previously had, van
ished when the destroyers came in
sight The very night we got ashore
we left by special train for Ardgay,
Scotland, We passed through many
pretty places in England The villages
were clean and the rural districts
displayed an atmosphere OF prosperity
and comfort,
"The houses were all built Of stone,
surrounded by either stone walls or
hedges, with shade trees and lawns in
front The fields were notceably free
from rock or stone and appeared to be
in high state of cultivation
"Ardgay is small town in the High
lands of Scotland, about 100 miles from
! Liverpool 1t is on the west shore of
Dornoch Firth, Bonar.Bridge being
on the opposite side, Both places are
about ten miles back from the North
Sea- and are typical Highland villages.
They are surrounded by many large
estates, These are divided and in
habited by crofters (small farmers
whose chief occupations are sheep rails
ing farming, game keeping and some
fishing. They take great pride in their
sheep dogs. 1t was a very interesting
sight on market day to see the intelli-
gence displayed by the dogs in hand
ling their flocks,
HTk. f,,,,,e tk,- J,ltr;,t ara g,
whole not so well adapted to agricul-
ture, as in England, the soil being
very poor. They raise enough of the
hardy vegetables for home Consump
ton, but little is shipped Fruit is not
raised here, except under glass. 1t is
very expensive. Apples at present are
selling for a shilling pound A shill-
ing is % cents
There is a vast amount Of waste
white and purple heather and blue
bells These are rivals to the thistle
as the national flower The heather is
in full bloom in the fall, and presents
a beautiful appearance on the hills.
"A great revival of timber planting
is contemplated after the war to ulti-
ize these waste lands. The houses
here, as we'll as i'll the parts of Eng
land that we passed through, are all
of stone; not a wooden house is to be
seen, Each house has fire place,
where all the family cooking is done
Some of the better houses and hotels !
have a range in the kitchen and a fire
place in each room, but no furnace.
They burn either wood or peat, The |
style of architecture in the dwellings |
is different from ours, and the villages
present a rather quaint appearance,
"In the summer months the days
are very long; not dark until midnight
and light again at two o'clock in the
morning The winters are the reverse,
with long nights and short days. so de- |
grees above in summer regarded as |
very hot day. 1t was amusing to hear
the people tell how hot it was last SUM
mer when we thought it was cool and |
comfortable. In the winter zero weathe-
er is very rare; and there is little snow,
not enough for sleighing There is an
abundance of rain. On the whole the
climate is much damper here than in
New England
"The railway in the Highlands is
rather antique. The trains make very
good time while running, but much de |
lay is caused by extra long stops at
stations The cars are much differ
ent from ours. Each car is divided in
to apartments, entrance being on the
side. One car has no connection with |
another, and one does not see the
conductor or train crew at all Tickets
are collected as you leave the train at
your destination When a train en-
tiers station, it is under the full
charge of the Station Agent
In the Scotch Forests
Forests here are not as we are aC-
customed to seeing them in America
and are in no way primeval, but rather
the growth from reforestation. The |
two lots upon which we are now oper-
ating; namely, the Strathcarron on the
Caron, and the Skibo Forest on the
Bonar- Bridge side of the Firth, are
owned by Sir Charles Ross and Andrew
Carnegie respectively. The Strath-
carron lot has an estimate of 100000 |
board feet, while Skibo has 100000. |
The species found here are Scots Pine,
Larch, and Spruce. The LarCh is SINH
lar to our Tamarack. The trees at |
Strathcarron show about so years. and |
at Skibo they show near 100 years of
age.