272 



iuto valuable forest is full of interest. Tlie present area of tlie 

 forests of maritime pine in this reg-ion is computed to be about 

 2,500,000 acres; in 1892 it was given as 1,715,000 acres, and in 

 1855 as 50,000 acres. The value of the forests in 1904, according 

 to Mr. Hutfel, was £18,000,000; the annual revenue obtained by 

 the sale of timber, turpentine and resin being £560,000, or Ts. 

 per acre. Owing to recent improvements in transport, such as 

 construction of light railways, the annual returns have consider- 

 ably increased.* 



^ Recent particulars of the forest area have been given by Mr. 

 Consul llowley in his Report on the Trade and Commerce of the 

 Consular District of Bordeaux for the year 1912,t from which 

 the following extracts are taken: — 



"The area covered at the present time by pine forests in 

 south-west France is about 2,500,000 acres. According to the 

 age of the trees the land is valued at from £4 15s. Gd. per hectare 

 (22 acres) for two-year old trees to £76 per hectare for trees 

 40 years old, and £80 per hectare for trees 70 years old. In the 

 year 1835 the same land was worth about 30s. per hectare. 



In the early part of the Nineteenth Century this area, more 

 especially that part known as the Landes, was nothing more than 

 a marshy, partly treeless waste, covered with a low dense growth. 

 It was originally damp, unhealthy and sparsely inhabited on 

 account of the immense sand dunes lined up along the shores 

 n I °^ Biscay, which, due to their constant trend inward, 

 swallowed up trees, villages and forests, and obstructed the 

 rivers and inlets. Water could not drain away and in the end 

 Hooded large areas, which turned into stagnant, pestilential fever 

 marslies. The damage by the moving sand became so bad that 

 the Government officials had to devise and execute plans for 

 reafforestmg the whole area. The ownership of the land is 

 divided into three groups— 1. Belonging to Government. 2. Be- 

 longmg to departments or townships. 3. Belonoiiiff to private 



owners. 



The forests belonging to the State are divided into 15 sections 

 and are very carefully worked. 



^l^"" +^-c iirst section are placed seedlings; in the second, 

 UZa , f'""' '"^ *^' *^"'^' ^^-y^^' old tiees, and so on in 

 S f n, /^^'' ^^l"" ^? y^^'^'- ^o t^PPiii^ i« done in the 

 fr.J if^ ''rC^?^^'^^^' ^^^'^^*1^ and eighth sections the 

 hirlprth T^^l V Weeding some of them to death, and in the 

 o tW i' *^^^"*^^^^^ ^^d gfteenth sections the trees are bled 

 the ot L /^''"^ ^""^'"'^ ^''*^^^^ '^'"'^''^'h' injuring them. In 

 bed SS T r ''"\'i *^''f "'^ ^l^d to death, and others are 

 t^:;es' wTen' ::::;" ti?*«ir ^"^' ""t' the thinning of 

 manent trees whlh a?e l;^ of\£l^ °^ ^'''l^^'^ ^T 



ti^ee. are..0 years old and the ground is cleared for young 



plants. 



ts 



ee Elwes and Henry, I.e. p. 1115. 



(FraAc^rp^n'iTMay^mS.^^"^"'^ Series, No. 5080 



