KEBOISEMENT IN FEANCE. 341 



councils, are the general means to be employed by the agents. The administration, oa 

 its part, will support their proceedings, and will be liberal in enconragement when- 

 ever the general interest may appear to demand the powerful concurrence of the State. 



To act on such minds, too much cannot be done to diffuse information of the advan- 

 tages realized by reboisement. The commune of Bourg, Lastic, in the Pny-de-D6me, 

 has a piece of C4 hectares covered with hea'hs, which they could not sell in 1834 for 

 7,000 francs. At this time a sowing of Scotch (ir was undertaken at the expense of the 

 commune, with aid from the departmental treasury, and which was not great. To-day 

 the ground is worth 70,000 francs, and the commune begins to realize products which 

 in a few years will be considerable. The commune of Durtol, in the sara-j department, 

 on 67 hectares planted with Scotch firs some fifteen or seventeen years before, lately got 

 about 16,000 francs from thinnings. Such cases are of a character to remove hesita- 

 tion. 



As regards proprietors, the applications for aid which have been made snccessively 

 in the Ard^che, are an indication of what will occur most likely every where wherever 

 the like has been given. The administration will agree, moreover, to cause the work 

 of reboisement to be directed and superintended by its agents, or by special overseers, 

 whenever a certain number of private proprietors resident in the same district shall 

 express a desire for this, and the measure shall appear necessary to the success of the 

 works and to their development. 



Sanctioned reboisements. — The opinion was expressed that no applica- 

 tions for subventions should be entertained, which are made by ])rivate 

 proprietors for the planting of small, widely-separated pieces of land, 

 and which would require the administration to expend money uaprolita- 

 bly, without the possibility of superintending and controlling such widely- 

 scattered replenishiugs. 



Remarks. — Certain rules must certainly be observed in the allocation of subventions. 

 The reboisement of a territory which is not attached to any similar operation com- 

 pleted or to be undertaken, in most cases will be of no axl vantage to the general inter- 

 est, and willnot be of a nature to be encouraged by the State. It will, therefore, be 

 well,iu case of requests for aid, to find out in what way the proposed reboisement is 

 related to the public interests, and co keep this relation in view when grants of 

 money, seed, or plants are in question. Of course, at the beginning of the enterprise, 

 operations aided by the State will be much apart. It cannot be expected that all pro- 

 prietors in a given area will resolve to effect these plantations contiguously. But it is 

 necessary to prevent the distances from being so great as to make the control of the 

 aid and the superintendence of the work too difficult. 



It was proposed that rewards should be given to communes or to 

 private owners who should be the first to inclose their lands. 



Eemaijks. — The law regarding mountain reboisement* limits its operations to this 

 work strictly. No portion of the funds can be employed as premiums to proprietors 

 who take the initiative in the inclosure of the whole or a part of their estate. But this 

 can always be done, as regards communes, by appealing to the law concerning bring- 

 ing ia the waste communal lands. The proposal can bo made at the proper time to 

 the superior commissioner charged with presiding over the combined operation of the 

 aforesaid law and the law of reboisement. 



Questions relating to forest improvement have remained till now, and 

 (Specially in the South, too much contiued to a narrow circle. It is very 

 important to make them known in every possible way. A periodical 

 has just appeared under the title of Revue agricole et forestiere de la Pro- 

 venae. Everything relating to forests, and especially questions on the 

 reboisement of mountains, are to be therein treated of, with the nec- 

 essary developments. An appeal has been made for help from those 

 who wish to popularize forest science. 



Remarks. — Government cannot hesitate to encourage the enlightenment of the pop- 

 ular mind respecting questions connected with the prosperity of the forests. A grant 

 of 500 francs is made in aid of this journal. It is desirable that the employes should 

 lend their helping hand to this work of enlightenment. 



Obligatory reboisement. — Important plantations have been made iQ 

 certain departments, especially in the Puy- de-Dome and in the Raute- 

 Loire, with the help of the enactments in article 90 of the Forest Code. 



