Canadian Forestry Joiirjial, April, ip20. i-^ 



THE PROFITS OF TREE PLANTING IN FRANCE 



b\) Dr. B. E. Fernow 



The movement for recovery of waste 

 lands in France dates from the begin- 

 ning of the iQth century, and today 

 reforestation l)y state, communal and 

 private effort, encouraged by legisla- 

 tive acts during the last sixty years, 

 has restored more than 2,500,000 acres 

 of lost ground to forest production. 



There are four definite regions of 

 large extent in \vhich systematic ef- 

 fort in this direction has been made, 

 namely, the sand dunes of Gascony 

 the Landes of South-western France 

 the sandy plains of La Sologne, the 

 limestone wastes of Champagne, and 

 the mountain slopes in the Vosges and 

 Jura-x\lps. 



The sand dunes on the coast of 

 France comprise around 350,000 acres ; 

 those on the coast of Gascony, in 

 South-western . France, alone have an 

 extent of nearly 250,000 acres, these 

 being the most important and having 

 for a long time endangered the ad- 

 joining pastures and fields. It seems 

 that the land occupied by dunes was 

 originally forested and that these were 

 created by deforestation. 



As early as 171 7 attempts at re- 

 forestation were made by the inhabi- 

 tants, and from that time on small 

 plantings were sporadically made. But 

 the inauguration of systematic refor- 

 estation was begun only after a 

 notable report by Bremontier, who in 

 1786. secured, as chief engineer of the 

 de])artment of Bordeaux, a sum of 

 $10,000 to be employed in ascertaining 

 the possibilities of making a canal 

 through the Landes and of fixing the 

 dunes. As a result df this beginning, 

 tlic nu'tbdd for their recovery having 

 ])cv\\ 1)\' 1703 experimentally deter- 

 mined by Bremontier, 275,000 acres of 

 mo\ing sand have been fixed during 

 the last century. The revolutionary 

 gfncrnment in 170O created a Cc^ni. 

 niis^ion of Dunes, of which Bremon- 

 tier was made ])resident, an annual 

 ai)])ropriation of $10,000 was made. 



later (in 1808) increased to $15,000. 

 In 1817 the work was transferred to 

 the Administration des Fonts et 

 Chausses. The appropriations were 

 increased until in 1854 they reached 

 $100,000 a year, and in 1865. the work 

 being nearly finished, the dunes were 

 handed over to the forest administra- 

 tion. There being still about 20,000 

 acres to be recovered, this was ac- 

 hieved in 1865, when 200,000 acres had 

 been reforested at an expense of about 

 $2,000,000, and an additional exp' nse 

 of $700,000 to organize the newly 

 formed pine forests. These, at present 

 with their resinous products and wood 

 are furnishing valuable material. An 

 unfortunate policy of ceding some of 

 these forest areas to private and com- 

 munal owners was inaugurated just 

 as the planting was finished, so that 

 at present only 135.000 acres remain 

 in the hands of the state. The returns 

 from the sales, however, reimlnirsed 

 the cost of the reboisement in excess 

 by $120,000, so that the state really 

 acquired for nothing, a property, now 

 estimated to be worth $10,000,000. 



Another Forestation Success. 



To the eastward of this region of 

 dunes stretch the so-called Landes. a 

 territory triangular in shape, contain- 

 ing 2,000,000 acres of shifting sands 

 and marshes, on which a poor popu- 

 lation of shepherds (on stilts) used 

 to eke out a living. In 1837 an en- 

 gineer of the administration of bridges 

 and roads conceived the idea of im- 

 proving this section by reforestation 

 and at his own expense recovered 

 some T.200 acres in the worst marsh 

 by ditching and planting. i'iie suc- 

 cess of this ]dantation inxited imita- 

 tors, and by 1835 the reft^rested area 

 had grown to 50,000 acres. This led 

 in 1857. to the jvassagc oi a law order- 

 ing i'orcst.ition oi the j^arts of the 

 land owned by tlu' communities, the 

 state at the same time undertaking 

 the expense of building a >y-tem of 



