284 FORESTRY IN FRANCE. 
good progress, and in the department of Algiers it will probably 
be completed within the next three or four years. The cork oak 
is the most important tree over an area of about 2300 square 
miles, of which one-half is included in the State forests. Above 
6000 tons-weight of cork, valued at £287,700, were exported 
from Algeria in 1878; and 5940 tons, valued at nearly £290,000, 
were exported in 1880, chiefly from private forests. The quantity 
will increase every year in proportion as the trees in the State 
forests are gradually prepared for yielding marketable cork, by 
the removal of their rough, natural coating, which is almost value- 
less. The timber cut from the forests does not suffice for local 
requirements, about £120,000 worth of logs and scantlings being 
annually imported from Sweden and other northern countries. 
The preparation of the cork trees in the State forests has not long 
been commenced, and several years must elapse before they can 
yield any considerable revenue; hence the gross returns from 
these forests are at present very small, and are far exceeded by 
the expenditure on them. Thus, in 1884 the expenditure was 
over £96,000, while the revenue did not much exceed £25,000 ; 
the heavy charges being due principally to the treatment of the 
cork trees, and to demarcation and survey. After a time, how- 
ever, these forests will pay well; but the value they have in 
regulating the water-supply, and in ameliorating the climate, 
would, even if they had not this prospect before them in the near 
future, amply justify the expenditure which is now being incurred 
on them. 
It is, of course, most desirable that such denuded areas as are 
unsuited for cultivation should be reafforested, and some attempts 
in this direction have been made; but the difficulties encountered 
are great, and the expense of such work is very heavy, while at 
the same time the closing of any portion of the scanty pastures is 
strongly opposed by the inhabitants. On the other hand, although 
the greater part of the water-courses, which are dry during the 
summer months, become flooded torrents during the rainy season, 
the results are not nearly so disastrous as those which occur in 
the Southern Alps; and taking all these circumstances into con- 
sideration, it has now been determined not to undertake the 
formation on a large scale of additional forests, but rather to 
devote all available funds to the improvement of those which 
exist. What has to be done in this direction is to protect them 
from fires and from over-grazing, especially by goats, sheep, and 
