84 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 

 OF STATE ASSISTANCE AND ENCOURAGEMENT. 



(a.) By rewards ; (b.) By subsidies. 



But the administration of the forests is not a system of entire 

 confidence in the intelligence of the people on the one hand, or of 

 stringent enforcement of the law on the other. Encoui-agement 

 is given to those who faithfully carry out, in their respective 

 spheres, the recommendations which are made for the preservation 

 or extension of the forests. Thus the forest guards and other 

 officials, who fulfil their duties conscientiously and with zeal, 

 receive annually prizes fixed by the Council of State ; and sub- 

 sidies are given to the communes which undertake large measures 

 of re-afibrestation within their limits, and also to individual pro- 

 prietors. 



In the report of the Department for 1886 we read: "We 

 desire to see a larger number of the communes and of individual 

 proprietors entitle themselves to the benefit of the subsidies which 

 the Confederation accords (viz., from 30 to 50 per cent, of the 

 total cost) in the interest of the augmentation of the forest surface, 

 especially in the high districts, or on lands whei'e the soil remains 

 still unpi'oductive." 



(c.) By the supply of Plants. 



And under the heading of " Nurseries," in the same report, we 

 read : " Re-afibrestation being ordained as one of the principal 

 conditions of permission for extraordinary fellings, and recom- 

 mended especially in the higher regions, it is necessary that the 

 State should furnish to the communes and to private proprietors 

 the facility for pi'ocuring plants of forest trees, not only in quantity 

 and in quality, but at a reasonable price." 



We may mention that the " reasonable price " above referred to 

 averaged 8 francs 18 cents (say 6s. 9d.) per 1000, the trees prin- 

 cipally supplied being of the resinous kinds — the red and white 

 .spruce, the larch, and the Austrian and Weymouth pines ; and of 

 " foliage" trees, the beech, oak, maple, ash, alder, and poplar, the 

 last two being specially recommended for planting on the sandy 

 shores of the lakes. 



OP THE NATURE AND EXTENT OF THE COMMUNAL FORESTS. 



Looking to the price charged for the plants, it must be said 

 that the maintenance of the nurseries is, so far as the State is 



