938 JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



Association for the jNIanagement of the Mountains have shown that 

 the amount of water deposited by dews and mists in suitably forested 

 watersheds sometimes exceeds that coming from rainfall. Long and 

 laborious studies will be necessary to determine precisely how the con- 

 densation of this water and its absorption and penetration into the soil 

 are affected by site, species, and other factors, but the general principle 

 is well established. For example, in the two streams already cited, it 

 seems fair to assume that the much greater annual discharge of the 

 Pique (1,732,000 cubic meters per square kilometer as against 693,000 

 for the Onne) is due solely to the fact that the watershed of the former 

 is 40 per cent and of the latter only 5 per cent wooded. If this is true, 

 it can be calculated that in this region the amount of water coming from 

 unseen condensations in the forested areas is five times that coming 

 from rainfall, and that reforesting one-third of a watershed would 

 double the discharge of its waters. It is thus possible by reforestation 

 to increase considerably our resources of "white coal," lack of which 

 during the war hindered the manufacture of munitions, prolonged the 

 duration of hostilities, and still hinders the economic recovery of France. 

 How urgent it is to replace the forests destroyed by the war and to 

 reforest the mountains is evident. S. T. D. 



Descombes, Paul. La forct rcgidatrice et generatrice dcs caiix. Rev. Eaux et 

 Forets, 59:139-142, 1921. 



SILVICULTURE, PROTECTION, AND EXTENSION 



Of the 520,070 hectares of forest land in Bel- 



Protcction of gium the State owns 38,850 hectares, or 7 per 



Private Forests in cent; communes 106,750 hectares, or 32 per cent; 



Belgium public establishments 7,810 hectares, or 2 per 



cent; and private owners 306,630 hectares, or 59 



per cent. The Belgian forest code of 1854, unlike the French, imposes 



no restrictions on private owners, who are free to manage, exploit, 



or clear their forest lands as they please. This freedom has recently 



led to such disastrous exploitations as to jeopardize seriously the public 



interests. A law has therefore been proposed which would authorize 



the king, on recommendation of a committee of seven appointed by the 



Minister of Agriculture, to set aside as "protected forests" privately 



owned tracts which are of special public interest because of their 



esthetic, hygienic, or hydrologic value. In these "protected forests" 



