April 4, 1S88.] 



Garden and Forest. 



71 



extreme drought of last April I saw them putting- forth new 

 leaves but feebly and shedding their flowers without ability to 

 set fruit. Only in the canons, where they may be somewhat 

 protected from the fierce heats by overhanging cliffs, and 

 where deposits of soil may lie, can they attain ?uli size, or can 

 the species with broad, tliin leaves exist. 



Not less are the plains unfavorable to tree growth. In a 

 former age of the world they were covered with inland seas. 

 Some of these broke through their mountain dykes and emp- 

 tied themselves into the Gulfs of Mexico and California ; the 

 others have nearly dried up under the sub-tropic sun. Except 

 in their lower basins, there was deposited on their gravelly 

 bottoms but a comparatively thin layer of fine earth ; and as a 

 peculiar feature of common occurrence, l:>efore this thin de- 

 posit was laid, (he gravel was cemented together by an aqueous 

 deposit of lime washed down from neighboring hills. The dry 

 slopes and mesas resulting from this now bear of ligneous 

 vegetation only a few peculiar shrubs, which maybe described 

 hereafter. C C. Pringle. 



The Forests of Tunis. 



THE following interesting account of the forests of Tunis, 

 recently issued from the British Foreign Office as a Consular 

 Report, is reprinted from the Gardener s Chronicle of London. 



" The forests of Tunis, which cover an appreciable part of 

 the surface of the country, were, undl the French occupafion, 

 subject to no supervision, and suffered from the want of that 

 supervision. In 1883 the French, alive to the importance of 

 preserving what remained of these forests, which are the prop- 

 erty of the State, placed them under the management of a 

 separate department, which has explored their extent and 

 demonstrated that they are an important element of national 

 wealth. 



" The explorations have resulted in the division of the forests 

 into two main groups; one consisting of the Cork tree and 

 deciduous Oak, locally known as ' Zen,' covering the north- 

 western angle of Tunis, where it abuts on the Algerian frontier 

 and the sea, and separated from the rest of Tunis by the river 

 Mejerdah. These trees grow in a stratum of sandstone, which 

 again reposes on the upper chalk, and they completely disap- 

 pear where the latter stratum crops to the surface. They cover 

 an area of about 360,000 acres, on 330,000 of which flourishes the 

 Cork tree, and on 30,000 the ' Zen.' Itis found that the former 

 invariably grows on the southern slopes of this moimtainous 

 region; antl, on the northern slopes and in the hollows of val- 

 leys, the latter. 



" South of the River Mejerdah both these trees disappear, and 

 give place to the Pine and a species of evergreen Oak. 

 They are scattered in groups over various mountainous regions 

 of no great elevation, all comprised in the northern half of the 

 Regency, where alone the rainfall is sufficient to sustain their 

 growth. It is calculated that these several forest groups cover 

 a surface about equal to that covered by the Cork trees and 

 'Zen,' viz., 360,000 acres. 



" These latter groups are in a more neglected state than the 

 former. For the most part they are nearer to important towns 

 than the Cork forests, and from time immemorial have sup- 

 plied those towns with fuel. The bark of the Pine is also used 

 for tanning and coloring hides and skins; and as no control is 

 exercised over the cutting down of the trees, or stripping them 

 of their bark, and goats are allowed to roam everywhere, the 

 forests are rapidly deteriorating. No legislation has as yet 

 been adopted for putting a stop to this waste, and though the 

 Department of Woods and Forests proposes that the chiefs of 

 the contiguous villages and tribes should be held responsible 

 for the depredations, the Government has not yet ventured on 

 this high-handed measure. 



" It is to the Cork forests that the attention of the new admin- 

 istration has been mainly directed. They are situated in a 

 country with a very sparse population, dwelling in huts formed 

 of the branches of trees. Their numljer is estimated at 18,000 

 souls, or only one individual to 30 acres. It was open to the 

 French administration to adopt one of the three following 

 systems in dealing with the woods and forests, viz., their sale, 

 their concession for fixed periods, or their management by the 

 State. The last was chosen as the system best adapted for 

 their preservation and extension, particularly as it was held to 

 be of paramount importance to favor the increase of rainfall 

 in the country, the quantity of which is supposed to be inti- 

 mately connected with the extent of the forests. That they 

 were more extensive in the time of the Romans, and that 

 they conduced to augment the annual rainfall, may be inferred 

 from the discovery of numerous aqueducts among hills which 

 are now absolutely denuded of trees and destitute of springs. 



" Much has been done during recent years in improving the 

 condition of these Cork forests. Roads have been cut through 

 them, and at stated intervals spacious alleys have been frayed 

 to serve as a means for arresting the march of the fires which 

 frequently ravage them. Above all, much progress has been 

 made in barking the Cork trees, an operation which consists in 

 stripping the rough bark off the trunks of the trees to the 

 height of 5 or 6 feet from the ground. . This virgin bark is 

 without value, and only ten years after the trees have been 

 robbed of it; is the inner bark available for commercial pur- 

 poses, the trees giving a crop of Cork every ten years. To 

 meet the expenses incurred in these operations there were 

 available the sums accruing from the sale of the trees already 

 felled, and of the bark of the 'Zen' for tanning. Little has 

 been done towards working the less valuable forests to the 

 south of that river. An experiment has been made in planting 

 with trees a small tract of mountain land near Hammam-el- 

 Enf,' some ten miles to the east of the town of Tunis. The 

 operation consists in digging holes at short distances, and in 

 dropping in each a few seeds of the Pine tree. Several hun- 

 dred acres have thus been planted with tolerable success, at an 

 expense of £\ los. an acre. 



"The worst enemies of the forests are goats. Some French 

 colonists have taken steps to exclude these animaiS from their 

 estates, and the result has been tliat shrubs, which never 

 attained the height of more than two or three feet, have in 

 founorfive years assumed the dimensions of trees. This is 

 particularly apparent in the large domain of Enfida, where a 

 Thuya, which covers much of that region, from a dwarf shrub 

 has now, within the space of six years, attained a height of 

 twenty to twenty-five feet. The French railway company, 

 which owns the line running from Tunis to the Algerian fron- 

 tier, has succeeded in planting a considerable number of the 

 Eucalyptus resinifcra (the Red Gum tree), and Acacia cyaii- 

 ophylla. It is estimated that 300,000 trees have been planted 

 along the line of railway. 



"The cost of planting an acre with the Eucalyptus amounts to 

 /20, about 1,600 trees going to the acre of nursery ground. 

 After planting out, it is probable that at the end of twenty 

 years 600 trees will have survived, worth 8s. apiece. 



"The bark of the Acacia cyanopJiylla is rich in tannin, and 

 valuable for the tanner. In the whole of southern Tunis tiiere 

 exists but a single forest, formed of a species of Acacia. It is 

 situated about twenty-five miles inland from Ifax, and covers 

 an area five miles long by a little over a mile in width. This 

 forest, which was formerly much more extensive, is protected 

 from the northerly winds by high land, and the trees grow in 

 clumps in depressions of alluvial soil. Though they only 

 attain a height of ten feet, the trunks furnish planks eight or 

 ten inches wide, of an exceedingly hard grain, and capable of 

 taking a fine polish." 



Answers to Correspondents. 



"Why is it not the best forest policy to cut out the mature 

 wood from a primeval forest and let the rest grow ? " 



A. J. K. 



If the questioner had asked : Is it proper forest policy to 

 utilize the timber for which there is a market and to provide at 

 the same time for a new growth .' he would have exactly stated 

 the very end and aim of forestry, and we would have assented 

 without qualification. But whether the best method to attain 

 this end, especially the latter part, is presented in the prescrip- 

 tion contained in the above question, must depend on a spe- 

 cial diagnosis. The method of taking only what is called " the 

 mature or ripe wood " (who knows what that is ?) or, as it may be 

 called, the " method of selection," is at least an attempt at for- 

 est management, and the beginning of order and system, and 

 where, as with us, forestry is as yet undeveloped, this method is 

 decidedly betterfor the future of the forest, than indiscriminate 

 slashing and clearing. It is, however, not the best, and in 

 many cases a bad method of forest management, unless prac- 

 ticed with great circumspection. Its advantages lie in the 

 preservation of a protective forest cover, and in the continuance 

 of a natural forest in an advanced stage of development, the 

 value of which must increase with the necessarily decreasing 

 supplies of mature timber. But this depends somewhat on what 

 " the rest " is. We can conceive of a natural growth, in which 

 "the rest "is composed largely of inferior or undesirable 

 growth, when it would be better policy to cut out the inferior 

 growth first, work for a reseeding from the old growth, and 

 then remove the old timber gradually, to have resulting a 

 desirable young growth. When "the rest " consists of well- 

 grown shade-enduring timber, like the Spruce in the forests of 



