EFFECT ON TEMPERATURE (AIR SOIL) 19 



"To summarize: forests scarcely cover 13 per cent of the surface of the valley of the 

 Loire, while the average for France reaches 18.7 per cent. Two per cent only of the 

 wooded area was under forestry regulations. . . . We must not, therefore, be too 

 surprised about the damage which everybody regrets today, but for which every one is 

 in a way responsible. All the vital interests of the country, its military force, its agri- 

 culture, its industry, its commerce, its navy, the climate, temperature, the conservation 

 of the soil and of the waters which supply it, even the existence of a part of the popula- 

 tion which lives by manual labor in the neighborhood of forests, or from the product of 

 its stock in mountainous regions, have an interest in the Loire problem which is really 

 connected with the most serious problems of economic pohcy. Considering the con- 

 tinual development of material interests that periodic inundations jeopardize, the public 

 executive power will not hesitate to agree to the necessary sacrifices, especially if they 

 recall that the single flood of June 4, 1856, not counting the human lives, houses, goods, 

 manufactures, and harvests destroyed, has cost 33.4 million dollars for defence better- 

 ments and lines of communications. 



"The improvements that are required, owing to the bad condition of the Loire and 

 Allier Rivers, are just as useful as a work made for the national defense and where the 

 budget (with the backing of public opinion) has always been on such a generous scale. 

 For the complete suppression of erosion and of sand deposits, it appears necessary to 

 give the Service des Eaux et Forets sufficient resources, in order that improvements may 

 be made in advance of the damage, which is incessant in the basins of these rivers." 



It is true that the discovery of iron, cement, coal, gas, and electricity 

 has tremendously reduced the need of wood. Yet a French writer says: 

 "Even without modern uses of iron, cement, and coal there is an in- 

 sufficiency in the world's wood production which some time will be keenly 

 felt by the great powers of the world." 



There is therefore every incentive to inculcate in the minds of all 

 students the national need for wise forest management. This study, the 

 French beheve, should begin in primary and secondary schools. Arbor 

 day (fetes de I'Arbre) celebrations are required by law. There are French 

 societies organized for the promulgation of forestry. The Jura has sixty- 

 eight such societies and the Touring Club de France has a standing com- 

 mittee on conservation. In France the planting of trees as a celebration 

 at births is often practiced, and in Alsace trees are often planted at both 

 births and marriages. To celebrate the birth of the "King of Rome" in 

 1811 an entire forest was planted. It is felt necessary to make the love 

 of forests and realization of the necessity for their wise use a part of 

 French national life.^ 



FOREST INFLUENCES 



Effect on Temperature (Air Soil). — According to investigations 

 started by Mathieu at Nancy in 1886, the mean annual temperature is 

 less in the forest than outside. Other investigators have confirmed these 



5 The French viewpoint is admirably presented by Jacquot in his summary of "The 

 Forest, from a Physical, Economic, and Social Viewpoint." A brief and translation is 

 given in the Appendix, p. 381. 



