200 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



w 







V 



CHECKING FLOODS IN THE FRENCH ALPS 



Holding the slopes by strips of willow and grass after completion of cngU 

 neering work. The barrages in the stream channel have become so covered 

 with loose rock as to be inconspicuous 



pected when an extremely paternalistic 

 form of crovernment is succeeded by an 

 extremely laisscs-fairc or individualis- 

 tic form. It may be noticed in passing 

 that this extreme laissez-faire policy has 

 persisted to the present day not only in 

 France but more particularly in the 

 United States. And it has been only 

 within the last few years that the people 

 of this country have begun to realize 

 that, although the policy of giving the 

 individual a free hand and encouraging 



him in every possible way 

 is essential to the devel- 

 opment of a new country, 

 yet when that country is 

 once pretty well built up, 

 there are certain limits be- 

 yond which the individual 

 should not be allowed to 

 go without a certain small 

 measure of restraint. 



In France a considerable 

 period elapsed before the 

 effects of this deforesta- 

 tion was felt. But gradu- 

 ally a realization of the ex- 

 tent of the damage from 

 which the people were suf- 

 fering was brought home 

 to them. Certain rivers 

 which formed important 

 arteries of commerce were 

 being silted up and were 

 thus choking the commerce 

 dependent upon them, and 

 many ])rosperous little vil- 

 lages in the mountains 

 were threatened with de- 

 struction by over-hanging 

 masses of earth and rock. 

 In many cases small 

 streams from these moun- 

 tains had become intermit- 

 tent raging torrents carry- 

 ing down enormous bould- 

 ers and masses of debris 

 to overwhelm the prosper- 

 ous communities in the val- 

 ley, causing not infrequent 

 losses of human life. 



By 1882 public senti- 

 ment had become so strong 

 that a bill was passed 



authorizing work to be carried on to 

 prevent these floods, and appropriating 

 $600,000 annually for this purpose. 

 Thus in addition to the incalculable 

 damage already suffered a heavy ex- 

 pense was to be incurred, for it must 

 be remembered that this annual expense 

 would inevitably extend over a consid- 

 erable period of years. Already at 

 least $17,000,000 have been spent and 

 an enormous amount of work of far 

 reaching benefit to the country as a 



