834 ^^^^ POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



years afterward, after it had been completed in an adjoining commune, 

 and the people were conciliated by being employed in it. The upper 

 valley of the torrent of Vacheres, which was formerly considered one 

 of the largest and most violent torrents of the Alps, once all cut up 

 into ravines, is now covered with vegetation, and the torrent itself is 

 described as extinct ; once the terror of the country, it has been 

 changed, at an expense of twenty-four thousand dollars, into an inof- 

 fensive river. 



Like results have been obtained wherever works of the kind have 

 been executed. M. Gentil, an engineer, reports of one district : " The 

 aspect of the mountain has been changed all at once. The soil has 

 acquired such stability that the violent storms of 1868, which caused 

 great disasters in the high Alps, fell harmlessly on the regenerated 

 perimeters. The mountain has at the same time become productive ; 

 where a few sheep could hardly live by destroying everything, may 

 now be seen abundance of grass fit to mow. This method of improve- 

 ment is remarkable for giving the people what they need most, and 

 for giving it to them with only a brief delay. The pastoral inhabi- 

 tants find food for their flocks in the grasses and hay of the planted 

 areas and in the foliage of the trees ; and the acacias that have been 

 caused to grow there will soon furnish them the wood they will need 

 in their vineyards. The torrential character of the stream has disap- 

 peared ; the water is less turbid, even in time of rain, and is better 

 adapted to purposes of irrigation. It is no longer loaded with solid 

 matter when it reaches the lower valleys, and naturally keeps its bed. 

 . . . Diversions from the regular course are less liable to occur and 

 less dangerous, and the people on its banks can protect themselves 

 ^^th slight expense." M. Gentil relates several examples of torrents 

 formerly very dangerous which have been fully and permanently sub- 

 dued by means of such works as have been here described, giving pro- 

 tection to highways that were often interrupted before, and security 

 to valleys that were often in danger, and adds : " Immense benefits 

 have accrued to the lands situated in the lower valleys near the dis- 

 charging basins of the streams. Not only are the inhabitants delivered 

 from the expense of keeping up costly and precarious dikes ; their 

 property, also, being no longer in danger of being suddenly buried 

 under a flood of gravel, has acquired a fixed value. They are able to 

 till their land hopefully, and with the assurance that they will enjoy 

 the crop. This certainty is a blessing of enormous value. The pro- 

 prietor, able to rely upon the future, will no longer think of leaving 

 the country." 



So far as the work of restoration has been executed, its success 

 in respect to the processes employed and the results obtained has 

 been complete. The chief question concerning it which remains is as 

 to the extent to which it shall be systematically carried out. Revue 

 des Deux Mondes. 



