AMERICAN FORESTRY 



(3) Planting seeds or seedlings of maritime pine, a 

 fast-growing pitch pine native to the region, in this pro- 

 tecting cover of herbs. 



Striking success in the use of this method led, in 1810, 

 to the adoption of a national policy for the fixation of 

 the Gascon dunes. There were delays and difficulties 

 in developing an effective administrative procedure, 

 .stoppages due to the political overturns at Paris; and 

 the inevitable conflicts with private property rights. The 

 forestation of the 250,000 acres of dunes bordering the 

 Landes was practically completed, however, by 1864; 

 and the work since that date has consisted largely in the 

 care of the plantations established, the construction of 

 new ramparts along the coast where dangerous dunes 

 were forming, the extension of the successive zones of 

 vegetation up to the limits of security thus established, 

 and the administration of the maritime pine forests 

 which have been created. 



The dune belt presented a complex tangle of owner- 

 ships state, communal and private. The method of con- 

 ducting the work of forestation which was finally 

 evolved bears points of similarity to the plan adopted by 

 some of our states, like Massachusetts, for the planting of 

 private lands. It suggests a modus operandi for state 

 or federal projects in America where the reforestation ' 

 of private land is required in the public interest. Its 

 principle is not the purchase or condemnation of private 

 property, but the expropriation of its tenure, or occu- 

 pancy, for a sufficient period to establish forests with 

 provision for ultimately restoring the land to its owner 

 when the cost of the enterprise has been met. 



Each project was drafted by a local engineer (the 

 work being conducted largely by the Service des Ponts 

 et Chausses), with a map of all holdings involved, a 

 detailed plan of work, and an estimate of cost to each 

 owner. The project having been formally approved, 

 each owner was given the choice of doing the work him- 

 self under state supervision, or of placing his land under 

 the custody and control of the state which then pro- 

 ceeded with the reforestation measures at its own cost 

 Once the forest was established, the owner could 

 acquire possession of his land by reimbursing the state 

 for its actual outlay with interest at the legal rate (4 or 

 5 per cent). Otherwise, the state retained possession 

 until the proceeds from the forest had recouped its ex- 

 penditures in planting and administration, when restora- 

 tion to the owner was required by law. As a matter of 

 fact, this process was suprisingly rapid, owing to the 

 low cost of planting maritime pine, its rapid growth in 

 the humid climate of the Landes, and its early yields of 

 turpentine and timber. The state could also divide plan- 

 tations on private land, restoring a portion to the owner 

 and obtaining full title to the balance in liquidation of 

 its account. 



( f the original 250,000 acres of Gascon dunes, the 

 French Government still administers about 150,000 acres. 

 Most of this ana has become a permanent state forest 

 forming a protective belt along the coast, which is man- 

 aged with special precautions to prevent a. possible out- 



break of the old peril. The requirements of the "regime 

 forestier," however, are applicable to forests of all classes 

 within the perimeter of a dune fixation project in order 

 that no excessive cutting may undo the great public bene- 

 fit which has been accomplished. 



The stabilization of the southwestern dunes in itself 

 was a magnificent achievement in conservation, but it 

 proved to be the beginning of still greater national bene- 

 fits. Inland from the dunes stretches 2,000,000 acres of 

 almost barren sand and marsh with a few patches of 

 natural pine forest. In the Eighteenth Century, this 

 region was thinly populated, had almost no industries ex- 

 cept grazing, and was notoriously unhealthy because of 

 its swamps. The successful reforestation in the dunes gave 

 great impetus to the planting of maritime pine through- 

 out the entire Landes, partly by transplanting wild or 

 cultivated seedlings, partly by sowing pine seed in plowed 

 furrows. During the Nineteenth Century, a least 1,500,- 

 000 acres of private land were converted into pine forests 

 as the result of the demonstration furnished by the public 

 work in and adjoining the dunes. The feasibility and 

 profitableness of pine planting were so clearly established 

 that a law was passed in 1857 prescribing the foresta- 

 tion of barren lands in this region owned by the Com- 

 munes. This law was based upon the same principle 

 as that applied in the fixation of the dunes. Project 

 estimates were prepared by state officers and the Com- 

 munes given the option of planting their holdings or 

 turning them over to the Government for this purpose. 

 It is noteworthy that in all cases the Communes chose to 

 do the work themselves. Some 185,000 acres of Com- 

 munal forests were created under this law. 



The Landes today are a vast pinery, interspersed with 

 little meadows and neat farms and traversed by a net- 

 work of surfaced highways. With the spread of the 

 forests and the simple drainage system which forms a 

 part of forest culture, swamps and malaria have disap- 

 peared together. There is probably more grazing than 

 ever before, utilizing the dense growth of herbage under 

 the older stands of pine. The fertility of the farm lands 

 has been steadily built up by mulching with litter and 

 bracken from the woods, this being, on many areas, a 

 crop harvested from forest lands almost as regularly as 

 their timber or naval stores. Turpentine orcharding 

 begins when the trees are 25 to 30 years old and is con- 

 tinued on a carefully regulated scale for at least 30 years, 

 when the trees are bled heavily for 4 or 5 years before 

 cutting. The population is several times that of the 

 Eighteenth Century, and three-fourths of it is supported 

 by forest industries. 



These old barrens have been transformed into one of 

 the most productive regions of France a region which 

 furnishes practically all of her naval stores and a large 

 part of her general construction lumber, and exports 

 quantities of pit props to the coal mines of Great Britain. 

 It was one of the principal sources of timber supply for 

 the Allied Armies. American forest engineers laid their 

 logging tracks among the very dunes which were menac- 

 ing wastes a hundred years ago, but which in 191 7 fur- 



