REBOISEMENT. 113 



followed, in a volume of which I have made frequent 

 mention in preceding chapters, Reboisement : or, Records of 

 the Replanting of the Alps, the Cevennes, and the Pyrenees, with 

 trees, herbaae, and bush, with a vieio to arresting and preventing 

 the destructive consequences and effects of torrents. 



M. Gentil writes : ' The aspect of the mountain has 

 been all at once completely changed; the ground has 

 acquired such solidity that the violent storms of 1863, 

 which have occasioned so many disasters in the High Alps, 

 have been altogether harmless in the restored perimetres. 



' The mountain has in a short time become fertile ; 

 there, where a few sheep could scarcely live by consuming 

 everything, may be seen now an abundant herbage which 

 may be mown. 



'But it is of importance that examples and figures 

 should be given ; I shall therefore cite definite facts which 

 relate to our roads and our projects. At Sainte-Marthe 

 there was prepared in 1861-1862 the plan for a work to 

 be constructed on the cone de dejection of the left bank of 

 the torrent. This dyke, the expense of which was esti- 

 mated at about 40,000 francs, had for its object to preserve 

 the national road, No. 94, and the adjacent properties, 

 against invasions by the torrent. To-day the torrent of 

 Sainte-Marthe is completely extinguished, nothing more 

 comes down now from the mountain. The proprietors 

 and the engineers no longer dream of constructing dykes, 

 simple enclosing walls suffice to protect the lands on the 

 banks. 



' As for the benefits by which the lands in the valleys 

 situated near to the cones have profited, they are immense. 

 Not only are the proprietors relieved from creating costly 

 and precarious dykes, but, beyond this, their property 

 being no longer exposed to the danger of being buried 

 under gravel, has now an assured value. Cultivation is 

 carried on with the hope of an assured harvest. This 

 certitude is itself a benefit ; and the proprietors, being 

 able now to reckon on the future, no longer dream of 

 leaving their homes and settling elsewhere. 



I 



