REVIEWS 571 



the work. The French government provided for the reforestation of 

 the dune area by requiring that private owners do the work or allow 

 it to be done by the government. Nearly all of it was done by the 

 Government, but much of the area was returned to the original private 

 owners when the income from the forests equalled original cost plus 

 compound interest. IMore productive lands, approximately two million 

 acres in extent, lying further inland are now valuable and highly pro- 

 ductive private forest properties. It is not clear from the account 

 whether these areas were reforested by private initiative or by the 

 government. It is hoped that Woolsey will discuss this point further 

 some time in the future. 



Another epic of French forestry is the work of torrent and erosion 

 control in the Alps and Pyrenees. By going through the bitter exper- 

 ience of having part of the forest cover destroyed, France has quite 

 thoroughly learned the immense importance of maintaining forest 

 cover on steep slopes. The forest destruction was followed by dis- 

 asterous floods. For the past sixty years, France has slowly, painfully 

 and at great expense been re-establishing forest conditions. Here are 

 excellent lessons for regions like Southern California where erosion 

 is so destructive and water so valuable. 



The economic damage done to the French people by unrestricted 

 cuttings on private lands in the mountains, in the sand dunes, and in 

 other places has been recognized for many years and is controlled by 

 law. Forests of strategic value for national defense near the frontiers 

 and forests which are of importance in regulating stream flow must 

 be maintained by the private owners. French statutes provide that 

 private owners must maintain their forest lands as such unless per- 

 mitted by the government to abandon their use for forest purposes 

 and to convert them to other uses. However in the face of the fact 

 that France finds it necessary to import a large proportion of the 

 timber which it requires, and although urged to such action, the French 

 Chamber of Deputies has never been willing to pass laws requiring 

 private timber land owners to raise crops of timber, the main purpose 

 of which would be to provide for future timber supplies. 



Col. Greeley, qualified above all others, gives a most interesting 

 history of the work of the American Forest Engineers. It is hoped 

 that some time he will tell this story in much more detail. 



A small number of mistakes and omissions slightly mar the value of 

 the book. On page 20, for instance, line 9, there are mistakes in the 

 conversion of Centigrade to Fahrenheit temperature readings. On 



