I56 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



which the country was recently delivered. The influence of 

 war supplies in the development of the Landes area presents a 

 certain amount of similarity to the influence exercised in Great 

 Britain. 



The forest tree of first importance in the Landes area is the 

 maritime pine. It is an indigenous tree, and the cultivation ot 

 the tree as a timber-producing one has been practised for many 

 centuries. The value as a sand-fixing agent and as a resin- 

 producing tree was recognised at a time when systematic silvi- 

 culture was unknown. The work performed by Bremontier and 

 Chambrelent in the extension of the maritime pine forest is well 

 known to most readers of forestry literature, and on account of 

 the wide publicity of the work done by those two workers, it is 

 not surprising that the work of earlier improvers should have 

 received little attention. There are, however, many records of 

 the early existence of extensive forest areas in the Landes, and 

 of the definite afforestation of tracts of waste land with a view 

 to the fixation of the blown sand. The literature dealing with 

 the subject is scattered, and many of the references are to be 

 found only in the municipal records of the larger towns of the 

 country. The early maps of the district, the evidence to be 

 obtained from the study of peat in the country, and the national 

 records of laws established for the purpose of protecting national 

 interests are also valuable sources of information. The persist- 

 ence of certain words in the language of the people gives still 

 further evidence of the antiquity of the early recognition of the 

 value of resin in the district. 



One reference to the very ancient practice of resin extraction 

 may be cited. In one of the epistles of Ausone, use is made of 

 the word "toedas." The word is explained by Baurein to mean 

 that part of an old pine that has been exploited for the resin, 

 and which burns like a torch when a chip of it is set alight. 

 The word is still used. Later records of direct afforestation in 

 the Landes are preserved in the archives of Bayonne. As they 

 refer to a period much earlier than that at which the work ot 

 improvement is commonly supposed to have begun, some 

 attention may be given to them. 



One of the earliest refers to the planting of Psamma arenaria 

 as a preparatory measure in the sand fixation of the common 

 land belonging to Boucau Neuf. Several inhabitants of the 

 town are given the task of planting forty arpents of land. The 



