THE FORESTRY OF FRANCE 



499 



nor even perennial weeds had a chance. 

 The result was that over 9000 mountain 

 streams in the Alps and the Pyrennees 

 formerly steady in flow became raging 

 torrents after every rain storm, the 

 springs dried up, vegetation disappeared 

 and the mountain slopes became mere 

 arid sheds of detritus, loam and silt. 

 Mountain real estate values shrivelled, 

 the loss being something over three 

 hundred billion francs and the flood and 

 drouths in the low lands became an 

 annual curse. 



To date over three hundred million 

 francs have been spent on reforestation 

 and barrage and about 6000 torrential 

 streams have been gotten under control. 

 The procedure outlines as follows : 

 The first thing to do is to obstruct the 

 flow in the torrent bed and reduce its 

 velocity. A series of rough rock dams 

 across the bed arrests this difficulty to 

 form deposits of silt and mud. These 

 barrages, so called, are planted with wil- 

 low and alder shoots, forming living 

 hedges which are carried far up the 

 sides of the ravines. Next the mountain 

 slopes are terraced by digging narrow 

 horizontal ledges and planting seedlings 

 in the banks formed by throwing the 

 trench excavation down hill. The 

 trenches are parallel and about (i feet 

 apart vertically. The species chosen 

 depend almost exclusively upon maxi- 

 mum and minimum temperatures ob- 

 taining. In order of temperature- 

 withstanding qualities they are : green 

 oak, yew oak, pine Alep, Austrian pine, 

 Cembro pine, from highest to lowest 

 temperatures. The silt from the em- 

 bankment above gradually fills the next 

 trench below, but by the time the slope 

 has been restored, the seedlings have 

 formed an extensive root system and 

 are able themselves to resist further 

 erosion. As the plantation grows older 

 it is managed strictly on the selection 

 system. In the Terres Noires, where 

 the soil base is black calcareous lime- 

 stone, the case of complete soil de- 

 nudation is exemplified, not even pas- 

 turage being left. In such cases the 

 forester's first aim is to produce a 

 thick covering of shrubs and weeds. 

 All mountain slopes consist of a series 

 of more or less vertical ravines with 

 ridges or mountain backs in between. 

 It is on these mountain backs that the 



Photo by ll'arrcn H. Miller. 

 STANDARD COPPICE, CHAMPEROUX. 



forester begins his first attack, for here 

 the run-off is least severe. These slopes 

 are planted with broom plant, Alpine 

 heather, gorse and furze, which shrubs 

 have been found to secure a foothold 

 on dry, eroded soils more quickly and 

 surely than any others. 



RECLAMATION OF WASTE LANDS 



The reclamation of the Landes of 

 France constitutes another achievement 

 of the French foresters which has added 

 something like twenty million dollars 

 to the land values of Southwestern 

 France. Originally covered with for- 

 ests, the denudation of the Landes in 

 the 16th Century left nothing to take 

 up the annual rainfall, so that without 

 natural drainage the Landes soon de- 

 generated into swampy moors, in which 

 state they bid fair to remain indefi- 

 nitely. However, at a cos!; of but 3 cents 

 a square meter the French foresters re- 

 claimed this entire area with a properly 

 laid out system of drains. The sandy 

 sections were planted in Sylvester pine 

 after several failures in maritime pine, 

 and the better soils were sown with 

 peduncle oak. The forest growth alone 

 on the Landes is now estimated at over 

 ten million dollars. 



