582 THE BELGIAlSr camphste. 



In the northern part of Belgium, and extending across the 

 confines of Holland, is another very similar heath-plain, called 

 the Campine. This is a vast sand-flat, interspersed with marshes 

 and inland dunes, and, until recently, considered almost wholly 

 incapable of cultivation. Enormous sums had been expended in 

 reclaiming it by draining and other famihar agricultural proc- 

 esses, but without results at all proportional to the capital invested. 

 In 184:9, the unimproved portion of the Campine was estimated 

 at Httle less than three hundred and fifty thousand acres. The 

 example of France prompted experiments in the planting of 

 trees, especially the maritime pine, upon this barren waste, and 

 the results have now been such as to show that its sands may 

 both be fixed and made productive, not only without loss, but 

 with positive pecuniary advantage.* 



There are still unsubdued sand wastes in many parts of inte- 

 rior Europe not famiharly known to tourists or even geographers. 

 " Olkucz and Schiewier in Poland," says Naumann, " he in true 

 sand deserts, and a boundless plain of sand stretches around Czen- 

 stockau, on which there grows neither tree nor shrub. In heavy 

 winds, this plain resembles a rolling sea, and the sand-hills rise and 

 disappear Uke the waves of the ocean. The heaps of waste from 

 the Olkucz mines are covered with sand to the depth of four 



Spain had cast out, and the Landes remained a waste for three centuries 

 longer. 



For a brilliant account of the improvement of the Landes, see Edmond 

 About, Le Progres, chap. vii. 



The forest of Fontainebleau, which contains above 40,000 acres, is not a 

 plain, but its soil is composed almost wholly of sand, interspersed with ledges 

 of rock. The sand forms not less than ninety-eight per cent, of the earth, 

 and, as it is almost without water, it would be a drifting desert but for the 

 artificial propagation of forest trees upon it. 



The Landes of Sologne and of Brenne are less known than those of Gas- 

 cony, because they are not upon the old great lines of communication. They 

 once composed a forest of 1,200,000 acres, but by clearing the woods, have re- 

 lapsed into their primitive condition of a barren sand waste. Active efforts 

 are now in progress to reclaim them. 



* ^conomie Burale de la Belgique, par EMiiiE de Laveleye, Bevue dea 

 Deux Mondes, Juin, 1861, pp. 617-644. The quantity of land annually re- 

 claimed on the Campine is stated at about 4,000 acres. Canals for navigation 

 and irrigation have been constructed through the Campine, and it is said that 

 its barren sands, improved at an expense of one hundred dollars per acre^ 

 -vleld, from the second year, a return of twenty -five dollars to the acre. 



