144 
tion, the preventive measures to be adopted in view of conflagra- 
tions, and the fight against the floods. I wish, moreover, that 
formalities and administrative red tape should not complicate 
things, as if for the sake of mere convention. I wish finally that 
the Forest Service should never lose sight of the fact that the 
surest way to avoid fires is still to interest the natives in the exist- 
ence of the forests, and to associate them in their conservation, 
between the lands opened for settlement cannot move, one might 
i iski its.”” The deliberations of the com- 
mission resulted in several administrative changes which did 
much to remove vexatious regulations and to reconcile the natives 
to a curtailment of what they had hitherto regarded as their 
natural rights. At the same time an educational system was 
established, whereby they were convinced of the necessity of 
good methods of forest management for the preservation of the 
country. The climatic conditions prevailing over a good deal ot 
Tunisia and Algeria are distinctly adverse to the establishment 
of forests, and the accepted methods of procedure in continental 
countries have undergone considerable modification in their appli- 
cation to these colonies. Long periods of bright sun, with, in 
some districts, hot drying winds, prevail, whilst in the wet season 
there may be torrential storms. The methods adopted by French 
foresters to overcome the peculiarly trying conditions are worthy 
of close consideration by planters in other parts of Africa. The 
most useful economic tree of Tunisia is the Cork Oak (Quercus 
Suber), followed by Q. Mirbeckii, and Pinus halepensis. The 
same trees are prominent in Algeria with Cedrus atlantica and a 
few others. In Corsica, Pinus Laricio, P. Pinaster, Quercus 
Ilex, Q. Suber, Fagus sylvatica, and Castanea sativa are amongst 
the commonest trees. The metric system of measurement is fol- 
lowed in the book with the equivalent in feet, etc., and here and 
there errors occur: thus on p. 43 the height of Indian corn is said 
to be 1-5 metres (7 yards), and on p. 47 the height of Mount Traras 
ef W. D. 
o 
is given as 11,359 metres (3727 ft.) 
Slee as ae ie Ea 
Printed under the Authority of His Masmsty’s STATIONERY OFFICE, 
By Jas. Truscott and Son, Ltd., Suffolk Lane, E.0, 4. 
