THE FORESTRY EXHIBITION AT PARIS. 343 



taken on the coast of Portugal ; while the German Government 

 exhibited, through their Department of Public Works,in the Champ 

 de Mars, an important series of drawings, photographs, and relief 

 models showing the work done on the coast of the North Sea 

 with the Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris). Nearly the whole of the 

 North German coast has now been afforested to cover the sand- 

 dunes and prevent the shifting sands from invading the cultivated 

 lands behind them ; only a small section still remains to be done 

 on the Kurische Nahrang, the spit of land between the sea and 

 the Kurische Lake, which lies between Kbnigsburg and Memel. 

 In other countries, also, similar works have been successfully 

 undertaken, one of the most noticeable being that accomplished 

 in British India, where large coast areas on both sides of the 

 peninsula, but especially on the Coromandel Coast, have been 

 reclaimed by means of the Casuarina. The lesson to be drawn 

 from these exhibits is that wherever we have, either in the 

 United Kingdom or its colonies and dependencies, similar diffi- 

 culties, where the sea sands tend to work inland and destroy 

 cultivation, the remedy lies in following the lead given by 

 Continental nations, and in turning the sands to account as forest. 

 We have already made a beginning in Scotland and in India. 



Before leaving the subject of the French Forest Exhibits, it 

 seems right to refer to the remarkable pamphlet published by the 

 Government, containing the paper read by M. Melard, Inspector 

 of Forests at Paris, before the Forest Congress. M. Melard 

 discussed the question of the supply of timber in the world, 

 classifying the countries under the heads of those whose exports 

 exceed their imports, and those whose imports are in excess of 

 their exports. The results arrived at are remarkable, and read 

 us a very important lesson. It appears that the only countries 

 in Europe in which the exports of building timber exceed the 

 imports are — (1) Austria-Hungary, with Bosnia, Herzegovina, 

 and also Roumania, where the exports are chiefly of oak, less 

 important in general building than the deal woods of other 

 countries; (2) Russia and Finland; (3) Sweden and Norway. 

 In all the rest, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, 

 Spain and Portugal, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, etc., the im- 

 ports exceed the exports, often very largely. In the rest of the 

 world, exports exceed imports only, so far as statistics are avail- 

 able, in the United States, Canada, and British India, other 

 countries showing an exce3s of imports. The figures given by 



