PREVENTION OF TORRENTS AMONG THE ALPS. 359 



distrust the acacia, which grows vigorously during the first years, but is 

 short lived. 



2. By sodding the surface between the belts. 



It has been said that bushes were not sufficient to protect the sod 

 against erosions, and that large timber is better. This assertion is not 

 confirmed by facts; in short, among the Alps, almost all the old forest 

 regions are gullied by the water in some parts, while the thin and low 

 coppices, which cover the greater part of the steep slopes, are very sel- 

 dom injured; or, if they suffer some damage after cutting, they close 

 them up very soon after by natural growth. 



The choice of kinds being decided, we should point out the means 

 employed to insure the success of the plantation. After a thorough 

 preparation of the ground in advance, they open anew the belts to the 

 bottom, and place the plants very thickly along them, covering the 

 roots the tenth of a meter deep with soil, and then scatter over them a 

 light coating of sheep-manure, using about a liter to the meter in length. 

 They then water the plants, and as this element is most needed, they 

 scatter along the row after planting, a little straw, which has the double 

 use of forcing the rains to soak into the soil without running off and of 

 preventing the soil from drying. The manure, which somewhat 

 increases the cost, stimulates the growth very much during the first 

 years and insures the success of the plantation. 



Such are the means recently employed a'mong the Alps to restrain 

 the torrents and regulate their flow. But these labors are not limited 

 in their result to the consolidating of the soil and the prevention of tor- 

 rents. They bear an intimate relation to irrigation, which requires not 

 only that the supplies of water shall be reliable, but also that it shall 

 be clear ; for, if not, the channels would be filled with mud at every 

 shower. The dams, by checking the velocity of the waters, purify them 

 of these sediments with which they are charged, and upon each dam 

 we may with certainty depend for supply. These works are, therefore, 

 the indispensable complement and dependence of systems of irrigation 

 in mountainous regions liable to erosion. 



But it will not suffice to close the breaches made, if we do not prevent 

 the formation of others. The immoderate use of pasturage being the 

 principal cause of these damages, it is of first importance that this 

 should be regulated. This is a necessity, and an imperative duty on the 

 part of communal proprietors. In face, if the communes are proprie- 

 tors, tliey are only holding in usufruct for the generations that are to 

 succeed them, as the good father of a family seeks always to improve, 

 and not to destroy. In like manner, it belongs to the prefectoral 

 authority, their guardians, to regulate their powers, and abuses ought, 

 therefore, to be opposed with energy. 



Furthermore, the present generation cannot fail to find a benefit in 

 this regulation, since by its means they will be saved from losing all 

 hope of pasturage, as now threatened everywhere, every leaf to the 

 root being eaten off by their starving flocks, — and will be assured of 

 increasing very sensibly the means of supplying food to their animals, 

 which can be supplied with less fatigue and in greater abundance. 



Results obtained ^influence upon the population. — The process of restora- 

 tion above described, and actually in operation throughout the Alpiuo 

 regions, has everywhere had an immediate and remarkable result upon 

 the population. There are none who now doubt the complete success of 

 the enterprise. It is worthy of remark, that the prohibition of pastur- 

 age has led to the suppression of the flocks which had been bought in 

 the way of commerce, in the spring- season, by a few individuals, to 



