NEW VALUATION OF UNBUILT ON LAND 127 



6. Area of Vineyards. — The area of the vineyards was as follows 

 at the dates of the three valuations : 



in 1851 2,142,811 ha. 



\ 2.320,533 » 



2.142,811 » 



( 1,499,048 » 



1,479,038 » 



1879 , 



1908 J 



Considerable changes in the area of the French vineyards have been 

 produced by the ravages of the phylloxera, which began a little before 1870 

 in the South, and then spread to the Bordelais and gradually to all the 

 vinegrowing regions. Yet viticulture had extended to such a degree before 

 the appearance of the phylloxera that in 1879 ^^^ SLxea. of the French 

 vineyards was still 139,486 ha. more than in 1851. The ravages of the phyl- 

 loxera were greatest after 1879, so that nearly 1,500,000 ha. of former 

 vineyards had been abandoned in 1892. In spite of numerous new plant- 

 ations, the present area under vines is still 821,485 ha. less than in 1879 ^^^ 

 663,772 ha. less than in 1851. I/Ct us add that in a certain number of depart- 

 ments (Aube, Eure, Eure-et-I/oire, Loiret, Haute-Marne, Meurthe-et-Mo- 

 selle, Meuse, Haute- Vienne etc.), the vine is gradually disappearing, ei- 

 ther because the nature of the soil and the chmate are unfavourable or 

 because the small yield from it is not sufficiently remimerative in view 

 of the considerable rise in wages. 



7. Area of Woodland. — Woodland belonging to private individuals 

 and incorporated bodies, and not to the State, occupied in succession the 

 following areas : 



in 1 851 7,672,757 ha. 



« 1879. I ^'3^^'^3i » 



i 7,946,263 » 



I 8,703,264 » 



» 1908 '^ ^' ^ 



' 8,237,258 » 



The total area occupied by forests^ therefore has regularly increased 

 since 1851. 



The increase was continuous in 26 departments and the diminution 

 was so in 18 ; the increase was limited to the period 1879-1908 in 27 other 

 departments. Finally, in 12 departments, the increase observed in 1879 

 was followed by a diminution. The situation has been nearly stationary 

 since 1879 i^ ^^^ Alpes-Maritimes, Corsica and Savoy, with a slight de- 

 crease in the first mentioned of these departments, and comparatively unim- 

 portant increases in the others. 



If we take theentire period 1851-1908, we find that the woodland area — 

 exclusive of the four departments not estimated in 185 1 — has increased by 

 994,621 ha. in 40 departments and diminished by 430,120 ha. in 43 others. 



The increase of woodland holdings is generally due to numerous plant- 

 ations on land of inferior quality, the cultivation of which has been aban- 



