PLANTATIONS 



countries were once largely forest-land, and consequently fertile; 

 to-day they have in the interior wide areas of stony highlands, and 

 in North Africa of desert; and once the vegetable growth of a 

 region has disappeared it is hardly possible to create it anew. May 

 these deserts be a warning to Brazil, for otherwise this glorious 

 country may one day become a stony wilderness. 



The Brazilians ought to insist that their Government should pro- ' 

 tect the forests. They ought in particular to be preserved on the 

 highlands and the mountain ranges, for it is there that the moisture 

 is collected which runs down the valleys and waters the plantations. 

 And the forests must remain Brazilian forests. It is of no use to plant 

 eucalyptus, for this tree, as we have seen, does not retain moisture. 

 The Brazilian trees belong to Brazil, and the forest must have the 

 character which Nature has given it — the character of the virgin 

 forest, for this has the best prospect of remaining healthy and pro- 

 moting health. This is not to say that the forest should not be 

 utilized; and in planting trees preference should be given to those 

 which yield the most valuable timber. The creation and exploitation 

 of the forests should be entrusted to a regular Department of 

 Forestry ; and the creation of such a department is a matter of the 

 greatest importance, for the wealth of Brazil consists even more in 

 her forests than in her sugar and coffee. We have seen what valuable 

 woods Brazil possesses ; and the possibilities of their utilization are 

 almost unlimited. 



The science of forestry would enter upon quite a new province 

 if it were to set itself the task of maintaining and exploiting a 

 tropical forest in the only form natural to it, with all its lianas and 

 epiphytes. 



The eucalyptus has its home in Australia. There, where it has 

 adapted itself to a country poor in animal and vegetable life, an 

 infertile soil, and a scanty rainfall, it is in its proper place, and in 

 its way beautiful. But who would change the teeming, sunny land 

 of Brazil into an Australia ! To replace the virgin Brazilian forest 

 by a eucalyptus forest would be to exchange diamonds for paste. 



