PERIODS OF WORK 175 



(2) The Bremontier Period. — Following the study of drainage in 

 the Landes, completed in 1773, the Controller General, by letter dated 

 September 20, 1786, put at the disposition of the proper authorities 

 "the sum of 50,000 livres (about $9,650) to be employed in works aimed 

 at assuring the execution of a canal in the Landes and of finding efficacious 

 means of fixing the dunes." 



This work was assigned to Bremontier who, in turn, appointed Pey- 

 chan, of Teste, who had taken charge of the sowing of the water hollows 

 between the dunes for De Ruat. The earliest important document 

 signed "Bremontier" is dated September 28, 1781, wherein he calls 

 attention to the necessity of having 90,000 livres (about $17,370) to 

 assure the maintenance of local roads. According to the Memoir of 

 De Villers dated 1779: 



"Work was commenced near the sea at a point above the high tides in order to stop 

 the sand in the areas planted, protect these parts by layers of wattle work or fascines, 

 scattering the pine seed evenly over the ground with acorns here and there and a quan- 

 tity of bush and plant seeds in order to fix the sand in place. The furze, genista and 

 maram grass appear especially suitable to accomplish this object." 



On the 21st of April, 1797, Bremontier sent Peychan, who was in 

 charge of the experimental work at Teste, specific directions which did 

 not mention the use of genista, furze, or maram grass seed recommended 

 by De Villers, but, nevertheless, Peychan mixed the genista seed with 

 that of the pine, and since then it has been recognized that the mixture 

 was indispensable. The work began March 12, 1787, and in 1793 

 practically the whole amount appropriated had been spent. Peychan 

 was succeeded by Dejean as Inspector of Works. 



(3) The Dune Commission. — The Dune Commission, 1801-1817, on 

 the recommendation of Bremontier, was appointed August 5, 1801, after 

 a lapse of some years following Bremontier's first experimental work. 

 The commission was composed of the Prefect of the Gironde; Du Bois; 

 Bremontier, Engineer-in-Chief ; Guyet-Laparde, Conservator of Forests; 

 and three scientists from a Bordeaux society. Bremontier was the 



wrote a paper on the sowing of pine seed. In 1778 the engineer Baron de ViUers was 

 sent by Louis XVI to study the question of dune reclamation with special reference 

 to the harbor at Arcachon. He recommended in his report the sowing of pine seed 

 and that the seed must be prevented from being blown away, and he solicited a trial 

 of the system. In 1784 Bremontier was set to carry on this experiment, being aided 

 by a private landowner named Peychan. This gentleman had previously made several 

 successful attempts and he had covered the seed with branches to prevent it from 

 being blown away. In 1787 Bremontier began the work of dune forestation, but the 

 first experiments were failures, since he refused to use the Peychan method of covering 

 the soil with branches to prevent damage by wind. In 1802 Bremontier's enterprise 

 can really be said to have been successfully started and to be inaugurated as a success- 

 ful project. 



