988 JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



spent per house. Marc apologizes for the small amount of forestation, 

 because the area forested in the Tell Mountains and Hauts-Plateaux 

 amounts to only about 13 per cent — a percentage too low for the type 

 of climate and soil. He calls attention to the need for more forestation. 

 The general wood business remains small, chiefly through lack of 

 transport. During the six-year period, 1909-1914, the average produc- 

 tion was : 



Fuel 123,028 steres (3.6 steres to cord) 



Lumber 23,227 cubic meters (about 41/^ million board feet) 



Ties 116,485 pieces 



Poles 195,759 pieces 



This total production from State forests is only 94,357 tons. Marc 

 states, "The small importance of exploitations which, despite the 

 progress made in the last 10 years, are still very limited, is due for the 

 most part to the absence of means of transport. . . ." Moreover, 

 the tariffs for wood products are much higher than in France to the 

 detriment of the increase in production. 



Chapter 5 (Forest Fires in Algeria) is of especial interest to the 

 American forester, who will agree that the fire hazard is due chiefly 

 to the natives, to the periods of drought, coupled with high winds, and 

 to the large amount of inflammable undergrowth which is especially 

 dense in cork oak forests. A feature of this chapter is the very 

 complete data on fires for the years 1873-1915. This data shows the 

 periodicity of bad lire years, and curiously enough that the damage 

 in 1915 (when one might have supposed that lawlessness would have 

 increased the fire danger) was far below the average. From 1873 to 

 1915 the greatest loss in any one year was 9,043,440 francs in 1881 

 and the minimum 90,093 francs in 1904. It would be interesting to 

 compare the fire damage with rainfall returns for this period ; this the 

 author has failed to do. He states, however, that a bad fire year must 

 be reckoned with every ten years. If this is true, the next disaster 

 will be in 1926. 



Most of the damage has occurred in cork-oak forests and the total 

 damage since the occupation by the French is estimated at 60,000,000 

 francs. Unfortunately, in cork oak the fires recur in the most dan- 

 gerous localities, and at Bone there is 16,000 hectares and at La Calle 

 32,000 hectares where the production of cork will be stopped for 25 

 years — an estimated loss of 25,000,000 francs. In the alepo pine, the 

 loss to the standing timber is usually severe, \but regeneration comes 

 in, as it does with lodgepole in our Rocky Mountains. The damage 



