NOTES ON CONTINENTAL FORESTRY. 1 63 



enough for natural regeneration; and as on such soft sandy soil 

 transport by rail is the only suitable method of extracting the 

 mature timber, a 28-inch tramway, 9^ miles long, is now being 

 constructed on the Hourtin dunes (Gironde). 



Steps are also being taken to ameliorate the condition of poor 

 grazing lands in the Pyrenees, where about 1,675,000 acres offer 

 scope for improvement. On the plateau of Lannemezan, a wind- 

 swept waste of 12,500 acres, wind-breaks or shelter-belts are 

 being planted with oak (species not mentioned) and birch in 

 belts about 35-50 feet in breadth, which cross each other at right 

 angles, and enclose square blocks of about 16 acres each. When 

 these shelter-belts grow up sufficiently, it is intended that the 

 interior i6-acre blocks thus protected shall be utilised either for 

 agriculture, or pasture, or planting, according to the nature of 

 the soil. 



In addition to Government work in both of the above directions, 

 however, the forestry question in the south west of France, from 

 Bordeaux to Carcassone, has, during the last three or four years, 

 begun to attract much general attention, and " a serious move- 

 ment is taking shape, and is growing in strength from day to 

 day, in favour of the conservation of the actual forest area, and 

 of replanting on a larger scale than at present." 



A particular feature about this budget is the consideration it 

 gives to the future of the French forests ; and one passage is of so 

 much general importance, with reference to all other countries 

 (and their colonies and dependencies), that I translate it in full : — 



" An examination of the receipts from the State forests will 

 show that for some years past they have been steadily increasing. 



" The market for forest produce is dependent on the general 

 state of business. During prosperous times, there is activity in 

 building factories, houses, and railways; many more packing- 

 cases and crates are required for carrying goods; far more coal 

 is extracted ; and, consequently, more wood is needed for build- 

 ing, for the development of prosperity, for the transport of 

 merchandise, and for pit-wood, etc. One would therefore expect 

 that during these last few years of general depression in trade 

 there would be a decrease in the income from the State forests. 

 But the opposite is the case. 



" To take proper account of this question, one must separately 

 consider the market for timber, and that for small wood. 



" From year to year, the quantity of timber used throughout 



