262 FORESTRY IN FRANCE. 
its introduction, and here it is sought merely to establish a crop of 
grass on the ground. 
The law of 1810, relative to the treatment of the dunes, which is 
still in force, provides that the Government can order the planting 
up of any area which in the public interest requires to be so dealt 
with. When the land, or any part of it, belongs to communes or 
private proprietors, who cannot or do not wish to undertake the 
work, the State can execute it, reimbursing itself, with interest, 
from the subsequent yield of the forests. As soon as the money so 
advanced has been recovered, the land is restored to the proprietors, 
who are bound to maintain the works in good condition, and not to 
fell any trees without sanction of the Forest Department. This 
system of raising forests on private lands would not be likely 
to succeed elsewhere ; but here the extremely profitable cultivation 
of the maritime pine, due to the large quantity of valuable resin 
that it yields in the hot and moist climate of the south-west littoral 
coast, renders it a safe transaction for the State to engage in. 
Before the Forest Department took over the work in 1862, 
111,787 acres had been dealt with; and the entire area has now 
been completed. The works have to be most scrupulously main- 
tained, in order to prevent a recurrence of the evil. 
CHAPTER IV. 
ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANISATION AND DEPART- 
MENTAL STAFF. 
ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANISATION. 
In order to carry out the work which has been briefly described 
in the preceding chapters, a corps of professional foresters, composed 
as follows, is maintained, viz. :— 
1 Director of the Forest Department. 
9 Inspectors-general. 
39 Conservators. 
245 Inspectors. Superior Staff. 
234 Assistant-inspectors. 
308 Sub-Assistant Inspectors (Gardes 
généraux). 
3532 Brigadiers (Head Guards) and Guards, Subordinate Staff. 
