570 JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



Studies in French Forestry. By Col. Theo. S. Woolsey, Jr.. with 

 two chapters by Col. Wm. B. Greeley. John Wiley & Sons. New 

 York. .550 pp. Ills. 1020. $6. 



The book is one with which every American forester should be 

 familiar. It draws innumerable valuable and interesting comparisons 

 between French and American forestry. It will prove especially in- 

 teresting to the many American foresters who were with the American 

 Expeditionary Forces in France, who often had cjuestions arise with 

 respect to French forests, the answers to which were not then readily 

 available. To these men it will also be a pleasant reminder of an 

 inspiring field in which they formicrly worked. Many American for- 

 esters will visit Europe in the future. They will visit France, of 

 course, for many other reasons than forestry, although forestry will 

 be more than a sufficient reason. To an American the study of French 

 forestry is especially worth while because of its relative simplicity, its 

 direct attack on matters of practical importance, its ignoring of the- 

 oretical complexities. The American forester, like the French, and 

 unlike the German, is an individualist. 



The book discusses the development and practice of forestry in 

 France in great detail. It is of far greater value to an American 

 than a translation of a French book, for Woolsey, seeing with the eyes 

 of an American, points out those many features of special interest, 

 which are in contrast to our conditions, or which serve as valuable 

 lessons to us. 



In America, we now have before us the problem of utilizing 10,- 

 000,000 acres of sand plains in Michigan, formerly forested, but now 

 a waste. Millions of other acres of cut over and burned sand plains 

 in the southern States must also receive attention. Years ago. France 

 had a similar problem in the Landes along the southwest coast. The 

 Landes situation was further complicated by a strip of dunes approxi- 

 mately -i miles wide and 120 miles long which were moving inland 

 and devastating the country as they moved. The account of the fixa- 

 tion of these dunes and their reforestation and also the reforestation 

 of approximately two million acres of waste sand plains lying behind 

 them, telling how an economic desert was converted into one of the 

 most, prosperous regions of all France, is undoubtedly one of the most 

 interesting stories to be found in all the world's experience with 

 forestry. Woolsey shows in detail how the problem was attacked 

 both as to its economic features and as to the technical conduct of 



