REVIEWS 487 



moving masses of snow and ice, together with what they transport, are called 

 glaciers." 



The book contains a number of such inadequate scientific descriptions, 

 which, without experience on the part of the student or the aid of a good 

 teacher, are liable to be very misleading. 



Apart from these defects, serious as they are from one point of view, the 

 book is full of valuable information as to the products and regional details of 

 the United States, and for this purpose teachers will find it useful. 



W. C. B. 



BOTANY AND AGBICULTUBE 



Studies in French Forestry. By Theodore S. Woolsey, with two chapters 

 by William B. Greeley. [Pp. xxvi + 55o> with frontispiece and 

 21 figures.] (New York: John Wiley & Sons; London: Chapman 

 & Hall, 1920. Price 36s. net.) 



Forestry in this country and elsewhere has been greatly influenced by the 

 German system, whilst the study of French forests and forestry has been to 

 some extent neglected. Mr. Woolsey' s book therefore comes at an opportune 

 moment, when efforts are being made to replenish the timber resources 

 depleted during the war. 



The argument for State Forestry is placed in the correct perspective, not so 

 much as a financial investment as for the indirect benefits accruing to the 

 community at large. The inherent characteristic of the French attitude is 

 summed up in one sentence, " the sacrifice of present benefits for the future 

 generation." Such long-sighted policy necessarily demands control of forest 

 destruction by the State, and the legal status of French forests is by no means 

 the least interesting of the aspects dealt with in these pages. 



The almost universal appreciation of forestry by the people of France is 

 a salient factor in estimating the growth of the official policy ; nevertheless, 

 the clash of national and local interests, as, for instance, in the eroded areas 

 of the French Alps, has probably at times been as acute as in the history of 

 control in any other country. 



The tendency in the public forests is to grow high forest systems, with 

 long rotation periods, necessarily yielding a comparatively low financial 

 return. In the private-owned forests, however, coppice and coppice-with- 

 standards prevail with a short rotation and a correspondingly higher return. 

 Under private ownership there is a danger of over-cutting and impoverishment 

 of the soil, but indiscriminate felling is prevented by the forest code, and in 

 areas where erosion may result the regulations are extremely strict. On the 

 other hand, the newly afforested land is relieved of taxes for a period of 

 thirty years, either wholly or in part, according to the importance of such 

 afforestation to the State. 



The policy of th€ French forest service is well presented, together with a 

 considerable mass of relevant data in a useful form. Most of the chapters 

 are of a technical character, and are intended more especially for the pro- 

 fessional forester ; but there is, too, a great deal to interest the general reader, 

 especially the history of the reclamation of the Gascon dune-belt, carried out 

 between 1810 and 1870, and the afforestation of the Landes from 1875 on- 

 wards. The former involved an area of nearly a quarter of a million acres, 

 and the latter 185,000 acres ; moreover, both these large undertakings were 

 in part carried out with the active co-operation of the landowners themselves. 

 No less interesting is the well-known story of how the French Government 

 has checked the processes of erosion in the Montane area of the South, 

 despite the initial local opposition. 



The success of these achievements must not alone be gauged by their 



