228 France. 



a 75 years rotation, which was figured at $2.50 per 

 acre, with a production of 51 cubic feet per acre and 

 200 quarts of resin (at $3). An estimate of recent 

 date places the value of the recovered area at 

 $100,000,000. 



Centrally located between the valleys of the Loire 

 and the Cher, near Orleans, lies the region of La 

 Sologne, a sandy, poorly drained plain upon an im- 

 penetrable calcareous sub-soil giving rise to stagnant 

 waters; this region too had been originally densely 

 wooded, and was described as a paradise in early 

 times; but from the beginning of the 17th century 

 to the end of the 18th it was deforested, making it 

 an unhealthy, useless waste. By 1787, 1,250,000 

 acres of this territory had become absolutely aban- 

 doned. 



About the middle of the 19th century, a number of 

 influential citizens constituted themselves a committee 

 to begin its work of recovery, the Director General 

 of Forests being authorized to assume the presidency 

 of that committee. As a result, a canal 25 miles in 

 length and 350 miles of road were built, and some 

 200,000 acres, all non-agricultural lands, were sowed 

 and planted with Maritime and Scotch Pine, the state 

 furnishing assistance through the forest service and 

 otherwise. A set-back occurred during the severe 

 winter of 1879, frost killing many of the younger 

 plantations, which led to the substitution of the 

 hardier Scotch Pine for the Maritime Pine in the 

 plantings. The cost per acre set out with about 3,500 

 two-year old seedlings amounted to $5.00. An 



