302 ARBOR DAY 



population of Palestine enjoyed comfort and abun- 

 dance during centuries. But the gradual devastation 

 of the forests, which was finally completed by the 

 Venetians and the Genoese, brought about a general 

 deterioration of the country. The hills of Galilee, 

 once the rich pasturing grounds for large herds of 

 cattle, are now sterile knobs. Ths Jordan became 

 an insignificant stream, and the several beautiful 

 smaller rivers, mentioned in the Bible, now appear 

 as stony runs, leading off the snow and rainwater, 

 but being completely dry during the greater part of 

 the year. Some few valleys, in which the fertile 

 soil washed down from the hills was deposited, have 

 retained their old fertility, but the few cedar trees 

 remaining as a landmark around the Maronite 

 convent on the rocky and barren Lebanon, look 

 lonely and mournfully upon an arid and desolate 

 country, not fit to sustain one-sixth of such a popula- 

 tion as it contained at the time of Solomon. 



FRANCE 



BY R. W. PHIPPS 



IN FRANCE the aristocrats had preserved the 

 forests. But when Jacques Bonhomme had over- 

 thrown their tyranny he proceeded to destroy the 

 groves and forests, and in a short time he succeeded 

 in almost staying crop growth in the fields adjacent. 

 Wiser councils now prevail; experience has borne 



