HEALTH, RECREATION, AND BEAUTY 23 



decrease evaporation, favor infiltration in the mountains and may or may 

 not favor it on level ground in cold or temperate climates, yet he concludes 

 that "Nevertheless, it must be observed that springs are only numerous 

 and important in mountain regions, and that there the forests are favor- 

 able to them." 



Floods, Avalanches, and Erosion. No one can read Chapter VII 

 "Control of Erosion in the Mountains," without becoming convinced that 

 forests lessen the intensity of floods and avalanches and largely decrease 

 erosion and the formation of "torrents." 



Health, Recreation, and Beauty. The French 13 claim that the 

 forests have exerted a beneficial effect on the health of mankind. Life in 

 the forest is especially beneficial in various nervous diseases. In India 

 there is less cholera in the forest regions than in plains. In the forest of 

 Haguenau there was less disease in the middle of the last century while 

 the cholera epidemic was raging in Europe proper. The leaves of trees 

 seem to filter the air and forests are so-called "reservoirs of pure air." 

 Forest soil is especially unfavorable to the development of microbes. In 

 the Landes, after the sand dunes were reclaimed, the birth rate rose and 

 the death rate fell; in 1878 Trelat reported that the fever had practically 

 disappeared in those regions. "The forests furnish pretty places for the 

 invalid as well as corners of recreation . . . this need of the beauti- 

 ful is deep rooted in our very nature." Fontainebleau, Compiegne, 

 Grande Chartreuse, and Rudlin are famous recreation forests in France, 

 but there are many others. One might say that every State forest 

 region is a recreation ground for the French people. The forests around 

 Nice, the Vosges near Ge"rardmer, and almost the entire Alps and Pyre- 

 nees are visited annually by thousands. One might almost say that 

 without its forests France would not be worth living in. Broilliard 14 in 

 1911, toward the end of a life spent in the National Forest Service, speaks 

 of the forest as "poetry and perfume of the earth." He says that the 

 tree gives the forest its charm, since it is found in a thousand forms on the 

 slopes, in clumps, in battalions, on the borders, near small openings, and 

 even around the former Roman Camp at Morey. The old trees act as 

 protectors of the species. In his old age he still can dream of the pretty 

 paths, openings, undergrowth of varying aspects at different seasons, 

 summer tranquility, autumn fruits, and sombre lines. Huffel claims 

 that "the beauty of our forests is an object of public utility." 



On June 29, 1899, Daubre"e ruled that since "the Federal and communal 

 forests often contain famous trees, because of historical or legendary in- 

 terest or because of their grandeur or exceptional size, such trees belong 

 to the aesthetic wealth of France. They add to the beauty of the land- 



13 Economie Forestiere, Vol. I, pp. 199-206. 

 14 Beautes de la Foret, par Ch. Broilliard, 1911. 



