FORESTRY IN FRANCE. 259 
mission, with a forest officer as one of its members, makes a report. 
If the proposal is approved, a law is passed declaring the work to 
be one of public utility, and under it the ground with all existing 
rights, either of the proprietor or of other persons in it, is bought 
by the State, either by mutual agreement or by expropriation. The 
area is then under the forest law, and the works are undertaken at 
the public cost. 
Works undertaken by the proprietors.—If, however, the pro- 
prietors, who are for the most part village communities, do not 
desire to part with the land, they must, before the expropriation has 
been ordered, agree to execute the specified works themselves, within 
a fixed time, and to maintain them, under the control of the Forest 
Department. In some cases, but not always, pecuniary aid is then 
afforded to them. If the proprietors of land outside the areas which 
are taken up for treatment as works of public utility, desire to 
undertake measures for the consolidation of the soil, or for the 
improvement of their pastures, they can obtain assistance from the 
State in the way of money, seeds, plants, or of work done for them ; 
but when any such aid is afforded, the operations are under the 
surveillance of the Forest Department, and in certain cases the 
money so advanced has to be refunded. 
Preventive measures.— When the condition of the ground is not 
such as to warrant its being dealt with in the above manner, it may, 
after the same preliminary formalities as before, be closed against 
grazing for any period not exceeding ten years, in which case com- 
pensation is paid annually to the proprietors for their loss of the 
use of it. During this interval the State has the power to execute 
works, in order to promote the more rapid consolidation of the soil, 
but the nature of the property cannot be changed thereby, and the 
proprietor cannot be called upon to pay anything for the improve- 
ments thus effected ; while if, after the lapse of ten years, it is 
found necessary to continue the exclusion of cattle, the State must 
buy the land, either by mutual agreement, or by expropriation. 
But none of the measures above described would deal effectually 
with the situation, unless the source of the evil were at the same 
time attacked, by bringing the pastoral arrangements on the neigh- 
bouring hills under control, so as to avoid overgrazing; and the 
law therefore provides that in 313 village communities, all those 
in which works are undertaken being included, as well as many 
others, the grazing must be carried out in the manner approved by 
the Forest Department. The communes are therefore obliged to 
