2o8 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



of late years in the State Budget to provide for the purchase of 

 waste lands, while the expenditure on cultivation in 1907 was 

 about ^6700. 



The State grants an annual subsidy to a private Association, 

 the Netherland Heath Company, which has for its object the 

 promotion of the cultivation of heaths, dunes, and other waste 

 lands. This subsidy was formerly ^^440, but now amounts to 

 ^750 per annum. This Association gives advice, draws up 

 plans, and carries out the work if desired, but it does not aim 

 at making a profit. 



For the promotion of the afforestation of waste lands belong- 

 ing to communes, the Government have since 1907 granted 

 loans free of interest, and have also provided technical assistance. 

 Any commune which owns a sufficient extent of land suitable 

 for afforestation may apply to the Minister of Agriculture for 

 such a loan, or several communes may combine their lands in 

 one application. If the application is approved, a plan of 

 cultivation is drawn up by the State Forest Administration 

 in consultation with the municipality, and the loan is fixed so 

 as not to exceed ^4 per acre, or 80 per cent, of the cost of 

 cultivation. The commune then binds itself to carry out the 

 work under State supervision, and in accordance with the plans 

 of cultivation approved by the Forest Administration. 



France. 



As regards France, the Ministry of Agriculture state that in 

 virtue of a law of 4th April 1882, dealing with mountainous 

 lands, the State buys each year uncultivated lands in the Alps, 

 Pyrenees, Cevennes, and the Central Plateau, for the purpose of 

 re-afforestation. The extent of land thus acquired up to 

 January 1907, was 503,000 acres. Grants of money are made, 

 and plants and seeds are supplied to communes, associations, 

 and private individuals to assist them in the work of re- 

 afforestation. The land planted through this public assistance 

 is 249,000 acres. 



Exemption from the land tax is granted to owners who 

 afforest their lands, viz. : — Complete exemption during thirty 

 years for sowings and plantings made on the tops and slopes 

 of mountains ; and a reduction of three-fourths for all land 

 planted or sown, whatever its situation, during the first thirty 

 years. 



