438 Forestry Quarterly. 



propriate and do the work, when the owners can buy back upon 

 payment of costs and interest. The procedure is based upon a 

 general law of 1882 and special declaration on the public utility 

 of the work in each case by the legislature. 



The cause of the devastation by the torrents is largely to be 

 found in the pasturing of steep mountain sides. Also log slides 

 are found to start the evil of soil erosion. 



The procedures are the same as those well known in other 

 reboisement work of the French, the barrages of stone, the fas- 

 cines of wickerwork, followed by sowing grass and planting 

 trees. The establishment of a sod often precedes the tree plant- 

 ing, but sodding alone is not permanently efficacious. In the 

 neighborhood of the brooks, poplar, willow and alder is planted; 

 at a distance, other deciduous trees, especially maple ; also Scotch 

 Pine, Austrian Pine, P. montana and cembra, spruce, fir, and 

 especially larch are used. The planting is done on plats prepared 

 with the hoe, 3.5 to 4.5 feet apart, with 2 to 3 year olds, sometimes 

 in bunches. The plant material is grown in temporary camps; 

 the large nurseries at lower altitudes having been abandoned as 

 not satisfactory. It has been found that deciduous trees are 

 more resistant than conifers, which suffer from snow breakings, 

 insects, fungi, and fire. The sprouting capacity of the former is 

 also in their favor in the protective forest. 



Hence, lately, oak, and in milder situations chestnut, and on 

 gravel beds, Black Locust have been widely used. In medium 

 altitudes up to 5,000 feet, the beech which is native here, has 

 proved best. For the Alpine situations up to 6,500 feet, Mountain 

 Ash, Alder, Birch, and various willows, mixed in groups are 

 most important. Transplanted stock is mostly used. 



The management of the existing forest areas is determined by 

 the protective function of the forest cover. In the particular 

 locality, however, conditions are such as to harmonize economic 

 requirements with protective functions. The principle of securing 

 changes in stands only gradually, which is the one adapted to pro- 

 tective forest also satisfies here the economic needs. Selection 

 forest with its group-wise reproduction, in fifteen years return, is 

 mostly practiced. 



The author closes with the following pertinent remarks : The 

 management of a protective forest never consists in allowing it to 

 grow on in its original form. By passive measures, by avoiding 



