Pepper.] 'i'^ [March 6, 



hectares of generally better woods remaining in France, with its surface 



of about fifty million hectares. 



The above fact is (^uite sufficient to justif}^ the alarm-cry of the Ligue 



clu Reboisement, which, alas, has so far been "vox clamantis in de- 



serto." 



Consequences This ruthless destruction of forests, groves and 



of the ruthless frequently of scattered trees is still going on and is 



destruction of the main cause of the diminution of the rainfall, the 



trees which is exhaustion of the soil and of the consequent un- 

 still going on. ^ 



healthiness of many sections. 



Other causes of agricultural decadence and of un- 

 Othercausesof healtliiuess have manifestly been at work in north- 

 agricuiturai de- ^^,^^ Africa slnce the Arab conquest, such as the waste 

 cadence and un- 



healthiness. ^'- Di'^iiure, which is left to breed disease around the 



gourbis and douars, the Avant of proper alternation 

 in crops, the superficial mode of tilling and the always incomplete culti- 

 vation of even the small surfiice that the Arab deems strictlj' necessary 

 for the maintenance of his family and domestic animals, his calculations 

 (?) being based on an average crop. 



This is not true of the Kabyle mountaineers, a dift'erent and thrifty 

 race, comparatively progressive and who, like the Swiss, cultivate in a 

 primitive way, it is true, yet very generally, all their soil. 



To sum up, of all countries, Algeria and Tunisia, so 

 Urgent reasons sparsely inhabited as compared even with the less 

 treer*'^**"""^ **^ densely populated nations of Europe, require to be 

 well provided with wood on account of the general 

 dryness of the climate (except on or near the seashore), the unequal 

 distribution of the rain-fall, which occurs only during the cooler months 

 of the year, when the heavy downpours are in a great measure wasted 

 by the impermeable nature of the soil on the Tell, where the head- 

 waters are torrents, and the lower and more level parts of the small 

 rivers lose by evaporation much or sometimes even all of the water re- 

 tained for any length of time in summer ; woods are needed also on 

 account of the great variations in temperature and dampness before 

 mentioned, and which in the middle and southern zones produce nycthe- 

 meral differences of as much as forty and even fifty degrees (centi- 

 grade), while in the northern, the hygrometer attains its extreme re- 

 cording limits, now under the influence of winds immediately laden 

 with the moisture of the sea, anon subjected to the parching action of 

 the desert. Not only should woods be protected in these colonies, but 

 as many trees as possible should be grown ; for is it not an axiom in 

 climatology that (except in countries lying in the path of damp winds) 

 a large proportion of woods is indispensable to that equable distribution 

 of heat, cold and dampness which produces successful agriculture, a 

 lioalthy climate and general prosperity ? 



