336 REBOISEMENT IN FRANCE. 



timber trees of some kind may spring np on the ground that has been cleared ; but we 

 do not hear that any such growth has yet started. 



Already one great change has occurred that is evident to the most ordinary observer, 

 •which is the speedy melting away of the snow on the mountains. It now goes oS at 

 once, in a Hood, with the first warm weather of spring, whereas formerly, being shaded 

 and protected by the pines and other evergreen trees, it melted slowly, and all summer 

 sent down to valleys on both the eastern and western slopes of the Sierras constant and 

 copious streams of water. Instead of a good stage of water in our streams throughout 

 summer, as in former times, there is a flood in the spring, and when this is passed by 

 our rivers speedily run down, and, being no longer fed from the mountains, evapora- 

 tion leaves their beds almost dry when the hot weather of summer comes on. 



The mountains being stripped of their trees, there will be nothing to shade the rocks 

 and earth, and both will absorb a sufficient amount of heat from the rays of the sun 

 during the fall, and even until far into the winter, to melt any light snow that may 

 occur. The result will be that our autumn weather will reach further into winter, until 

 at last we shall have no winter worthy of the name. On the California side of the 

 mountains the effect will be much the same. The hot weather of the valleys will extend 

 over the foot-hills and gradually reach up into the mountains. 



Statements like these might be multiplied indefinitely, — not drawn 

 from isolated observations, but from the experience of all countries where 

 mountains once covered with vegetation have been cleared by man or 

 have been overrun by wide-spreading fires. We will now consider the 

 measures that have been adopted in several countries of Europe for 

 arresting further injuries from this cause and for restoring damages 

 "When done. 



EEBOISEMENT. 



We use this term^ to designate the process of replanting of hilly and 

 mountainous regions that have been exposed to the action of eroding 

 torrents, due to the stripping off of forests by improvident cleariugs, 

 and even by pasturage, more esi)ecially by sheep and goats, so that the 

 naked soil becomes exposed to the rains. These results have been more 

 particularly observed in the Alps, the torrential rains being brought by 

 a particular south wind called the faehn, which is generally violent, and 

 l)ours down an abundance of rain. The waters begin to trickle down 

 the slopes where vegetation has been removed, and at once to wear little 

 channels, which, presently enlarging in width and depth, become at 

 length enormous chasms.^ The materials are swept down into the chan- 

 nels of the mountain streams, and the turbid mass of soil and rocks is 

 borne down with overwhelmiug force, until it reaches the fertile alluvial 

 plaius below, where, spreading out, it covers fields and gardens with 

 vast deposits of sand and gravel, sterilizing the country the whole dis- 



1 We adojit this word from the French because we have nothing in the English lan- 

 guage that concisely expresses the idea. It is already in common use by English 

 writers, and this fact .appears to render further apology needless on this occasion. 



2 The desolation of mountain regions by the clearing of forests and by pasturage of 

 flocks is also strikingly illustrated in the Pyrenees. This region in the last century 

 was almost entirely out of account in the agricultural and commercial reports of 

 France. The slopes were timbered with forests of great extent, which, from want of 

 markets and ways for transportation, remained unproductive, and to some extent un- 

 known. On the top, where forest vegetation ceased, sufficient herbage was found for 

 the pasturage of flocks in summer. The plains were poorly cultivated, and inunda- 

 tions were much less frequent and less destructive than nowadays. As roads camo to 

 be opened, the profit from sheep and cattle became greater, and the clearing of forests 

 was begun, to make room for pasturage, and to some extent for timber, until by de- 

 grees the slopes of the mountains were denuded, and the rains, having nothing to hin- 

 der, began to form eroding torrents, the south slopes suffering most, because first cleared 

 and directly exposed to the sun's heat. The extremes of flood and drought became 

 excessive, and extensive tracts have been ruined for present occupation from this 

 source. 



