PART III. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE OBJECTS OF COVERING MOUNTAINS WITH 

 FOREST-TREES. 



The aforesting of mountains has for its object the 

 creation of a forest vegetation, which should pervade the 

 soil with a net of numerous roots and rootlets in order 

 to bind the soil, especially on the steep slopes, and to 

 prevent its dissolution or sliding down into the valleys 

 by heavy i-ain storms which underwash the surface soil. 



The forests of mountains are furthermore destined to 

 furnish to the lower situated, cultivated parts of a 

 country an effective and lasting shelter against meteoro- 

 logical influences, especially against the fury of strong 

 winds. AVhen a tempest beats upon the denuded slopes of 

 a mountain, it will shake the boulders, catch up the stones 

 and overturn isolated trees. These obstacles, far from 

 calming the storm, will redouble its fury; it will re- 

 bound and form in the valleys tornadoes which devastate 

 everything that is lying in their way. But when it strikes 

 a wooded slope, each tree, each branch will bend under 

 the force of the wind, but will check its force by its 

 elasticity ; the hurricane will be sifted and absorbed by 

 the woods. 



But the principal advantage of wooded mountains 

 consists in the furnishing and regulating of a continual 

 flow of water to the lower situated regions. Usually the 

 surface soil of mountains is not very thick and, there- 

 fore, unable to retain, for a long time, the quantity of 

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