Hamilton. — On the Forests of Ne'w Zealand. 159 



The reforestation of denuded mountain-slopes is encouraged 

 by the granting of financial aid or of plant material, in propor- 

 tion to the general good resulting from the work. If it is 

 found necessary to take land and plant it (in cases where the 

 owners are unwilling or unable to do the work), the Govern- 

 ment do the work and hold the land until the cost is repaid. 



The Government, if desired, or where success depends on 

 it, superintends the planting, and also regulates the use of 

 these protective foi*ests afterwards. The success of the Go- 

 vernment in replanting the sandy wastes in the south of 

 France is well known; and in a recent report of the British 

 Consul at Bordeaux he refers to the forests, which cover about 

 a third of the department, especially the Landes District, 

 where the soil is wholly unfitted for ordinary cultivation. 

 Here, he says, forests of pines {P. maritima) have in recent 

 times been planted, and the w^ood and the resin obtained from 

 them have now become an important, and in some instances 

 the sole, source of revenue of the people of those districts. In 

 the parts distant from towns and other inhabited places resin 

 is chiefly produced, while in places nearer to Bordeaux or 

 other shipping ports, where means of transportation exist, the 

 production of pit-props, railway-sleepers, telegraph-poles, and 

 wood for fuel form the chief business. A new oil, called pine- 

 oil, is now being made from the refuse of resin after the latter 

 has been employed in making turpentine. It is a good illumi- 

 nant, cheaper than kerosene, and non-explosive. A large quan- 

 tity of the young pines are used in making certain kinds of paper. 



In order to gam the confidence and co-operation of the 

 communities anci proprietors in planting fresh areas, annual 

 meetings were held in difi'erent parts of the country, in which 

 the Government agents explained the advantages and methods 

 of rehoisement and discussed the local conditions and diffi- 

 culties. These meetings proved a great success, and much 

 advanced the cause of rational forestry. As a result of these 

 meetings, and of the education resulting from them, it was 

 found that in 1888 an area of about 365,000 acres had been 

 reforested, of which 90,000 were private and 125,000 com- 

 munal property, the rest belonging to the State. 



The cost per acre for reforesting was somewhat less than 

 £2, and the State has expended already about £2,000,000. It 

 is estimated that 800,000 acres more are to be reforested, and 

 an additional expenditure of seven millions and a half is 

 necessary before the damage done to the agricultural lands of 

 eighteen French departments by reckless forest-destruction 

 will be repaired.* 



* For the details concerning the European countries I am much 

 indebted to an article by B. E. Fernow, in the Century ]\Iagazine, 

 April, 1894. 



