290 



GENERAL VIEWS, 



ests which encircle them above, are the protection of 

 the fields below ; but when once the axe is used 

 among them without a due discretion, the rain breaks 

 up and carries off the layer of mould no longer consoli* 

 dated by roots ; large and deep gullies are cut by the 

 descending torrents on all sides ; the snow, accumula- 

 ted on the summits during winter, slides down the de- 

 clivities, and finding no dam that stops it, enormous 

 masses are precipitated with a dreadful crash to the 

 bottom of the valleys, destroying in their way the 

 fields with their cattle, and the villages with their in- 

 habitants. The rock once laid bare, the rain-water 

 which penetrates its clefts, silently undermines it ; 

 the frost cracks and crumbles it away ; it falls in ruins, 

 accumulating at the foot of the mountain mounds of 

 rubbish. This is an evil which has no remedy ; the 

 forests once banished from the highland tops are never 

 replaced ; while the washings and rubble carried down 

 yearly by the rain, soon transform into a desert the 

 populous and flourishing valley below. 



The vegetable mould produced by herbaceous plants 

 upon unsheltered land is destroyed by the action of 

 light, heat and oxygen, while that which is formed in 

 the shade of forests, defended from the effects of these 

 destructive agents, increases from day to day, both by 

 the remains of vegetables, as well as of the animals of 

 all kinds which seek refuge in them. This is the reas- 

 on why newly-cleared land is endowed with such pro- 

 digious fertility. In this either rye or oats must be 

 cultivated for the first years, its too abundant richness 

 causing the more precious wheat to grow rank, and 

 produce little grain. But sooner or later, the soil is 

 exhausted, and recourse must be had to manure, to 

 restore the nutritious particles earned off by success- 



