and reboisement occupy a large share of the 
attention of the foresters. An interesting ex- 
ample of the necessity of building barrages 
and side walls even on the portion of a tor- 
rential stream where, the gradient has become 
relatively gentle, is to be seen just outside 
of Interlaken, where before the correction 
work was undertaken much damage resulted 
in time of flood to valuable meadow land, of 
which Switzerland has at best all too little. 
As the methods followed in the two countries 
are essentially alike, it may not be inappro- 
priate, for the purpose of this letter, to in- 
clude Swiss examples, even when discussing 
French forest methods. 
Where there are flats or depressions at or 
above the tops of the steep slopes, as is often 
the case in the section of the Alpine high pas- 
tures, there is some tendency for the land to 
become boggy. Here artificial drainage is 
often practiced, by the construction of ditches 
Conservation des Terrains en Montagne’”’ 
Paris, 1911. 
In recent years, as has been said, more and 
more attention has been given to attempting 
to prevent the trouble at its source, through 
the afforestation of the upper parts of the 
catchment areas by establishing forest plan- 
tations. A lively discussion between the en- 
gineers and the foresters continued for a long 
time over the relative merits of the two 
methods of approaching this problem. One 
can hear today more than echoes of it. But 
the results that have followed the afforesta- 
tion of certain watersheds seem now to have 
swung the balance distinctly to the forester’s 
side of the argument. Nevertheless the dams 
and other engineering works will always have 
their place on certain streams. 
The species used in these high mountain 
plantations naturally vary with localities, de- 
pending on the elevation, aspect, soil and ex- 
CREST OF 
THE LITTORAL 
DUNE AT 
MIMIZAN, 
LANDES, 
FRANCE, 
SHOWING 
SAND HELD 
BY ROWS OF 
MARAM GRASS 
that lead off the surplus water and turn it 
into prepared channels. Were this not done 
the saturated condition of the soil in these 
places would result in times of heavy pre- 
cipitation, in the torrents being even more 
swollen than normal. There are many phases 
of reboisement work. 
DEVELOPMENT 
OF REBOISEMENT 
The names of the French foresters and 
engineers that especially stand out in connec- 
tion with reboisement in the High Alps are 
those of Surell and Demontzey. The book by 
the latter, “Reboisement des Montagnes’, al- 
though written in 1878, is still regarded, in 
its later editions, as being the standard au- 
thority on this subject. But there has been 
much written concerning the various sections 
into which work of this sort divides itself. 
Perhaps the most important recent contribu- 
tion is an official report by the French For- 
est Service, issued in 1911: ‘‘Restauration et 
posure to the wind. Scots, Austrian and 
mountain pine, spruce, larch, and others are 
all in use. The study of questions that arise 
in connection with these plantations, and in 
general in the reboisement work, falls with- 
in the scope of the French Forest Experiment 
Station, located at the Forest School at 
Nancy. One of the four sections of that or- 
ganization deals exciusively with problems of 
reboisement. It is under the direction of 
Professor Bernard, assistant director of the 
National School of Forestry. In Switzerland 
much experimental work in tree planting on 
the high mountains is being done by Dr. 
Franz Fankhauser, chief inspector of the 
Swiss Federal Forest Service, at Berne. That 
work is proceeding in connection with the 
afforestation of open land in the mountains, 
from which areas the run-off enters torren- 
tial stream beds. 
The big fact about all the tree planting on 
these upland catchment areas is that if it is 
possible to retard and equalize the run-off, 
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