FORESTRY IN FRANCE. 285 
camels ; to develop a system of roads and paths, and to build houses 
for the forest officers and guards; to stop the practice of felling 
poles and young trees, and, by the introduction of the use of the 
saw, to promote the utilisation of large trees ; to plant up blanks 
within the forest, and to expropriate and stock portions, at any 
rate, of the cultivated areas within forest limits ; to purchase such 
of the private forests as in the public interest ought to be under 
State management ; to regulate the grazing arrangements, improve 
the pastures, and develop the growth of alpha grass on the plateau ; 
to introduce a larger proportion of species affording heavy shade, 
so as to improve the soil; and to encourage enterprise in the way 
of forest improvement among private proprietors. These measures 
will tend to improve the climate, and to regulate the water supply ; 
and when, some years hence, they have advanced towards comple- 
tion, it will be possible to commence the formation of new forests. 
In the meantime, the cultivators of the Tell have already done 
something to counteract the evil effects of the irregularity of the 
water-courses by erecting dams, constructing tanks, small canals, 
and other such works ; and they have also planted up considerable 
areas of marsh land with gum trees (chiefly Hucalyptus globulus), 
which have succeeded well so far. 
The law of 1881 provides that all laws and rules which obtain 
in France apply in Algeria, in so far as they are not contrary to 
local legislation ; but the Governor-General has been invested with 
special powers, in order to avoid constant reference to the central 
Government at Paris. Among other local laws there is one, 
enacted in 1874, relative to forest fires, the principal provisions of 
which are as follows, viz.:—1s¢, No one, not even private proprietors 
in their own forests, can, between the lst of July and the 1st of 
November, light or carry fire outside the houses, even for charcoal- 
burning or the manufacture of tar or resin, either in the interior 
of the forests or within two hundred yards of them. 2d, Neither 
can any one, within the same period, light shrubs, grass, or other 
vegetation within two and a-half miles of a forest, without special 
sanction. 3d, The native population is compelled to aid in the 
protection of the forests; and any persons, European or native, 
who, when called upon to put out a fire, refuse to assist, are liable 
to penalties. 4¢h, Independently of the individual penalties incurred 
by the actual offenders or their accomplices, the tribes can be fined 
collectively, when forest fires are caused by them. 5th, When 
such fires appear to have been lighted intentionally, they can be 
