174 FORESTRY IN THE LANDES 



1. The groping of those who preceded Br^montier, 1734-1786. 



2. Bremontier himself, 1787-1793 (with interim). 



3. The Dune Commission, 1801-1817. 



4. Administration of the Bridge and Road Service, 1817-1862. 



5. The Waters and Forest Service, 1862 on. 



(1) Before Bremontier. — Before Br^montier's time, a number of 

 persons had suggested the possibility of reclaiming the dunes and pre- 

 venting the disasters caused by the advancing sand. Following a dis- 

 astrous fire in the forest of Teste in 1716 the forest was resown by its 

 communal owners in 1717, although there is a possibility that the records 

 are inaccurate and that the sowing was natural rather than artificial. 

 De Ruat, a member of the Bordeaux ParUament, argued in 1776 that it 

 was perfectly practicable to sow the dunes, and on March 23, 1779, a 

 decree in council accorded him perpetual ownership of a concession in the 

 Teste region if he would reforest the area and prevent the sand from 

 further encroachment. He had to pay, as purchase price, two pounds 

 of wheat for each acre. Desbiey, former receiver at Teste, on the 25th 

 of August, 1774, presented a statement to the Academy of Sciences at 

 Bordeaux arguing that the sowing of the dunes was entirely practicable. 

 In 1779, De Villers wrote a special report on the possibility of fixing the 

 Gascogne dunes. In 1778-1779 a commission studying the dune problem 

 proposed interior plantations of trees, with plantations of genista and 

 Uttle bundles of straw held in place by stakes to hold the genista in place. 

 According to Bert: 



"It therefore appears certain that the methods of sowing and fixing dunes were 

 known before the first experiments of Bremontier. They had been applied to a cer- 

 tain extent by Peychan, taken account of by De Ruat, and described by De Villers." 



Tassin made some claims of originating the dune protective work 

 but, apparently, in the words of Bremontier: 



" He told me positively that my sowing and plantation of the dunes would never 

 have been considered except as a brilliant theory which it is impossible to make 

 practical use of." 



Br^montier's ' credit for this great reclamation work rests on his 

 devotion, activity, persistence, and clearness of vision rather than on 

 an origination of ideas or methods. He was the man "to put it across." 



' According to the Indian Forester, p. 415, Vol. 21, 1895, July 10, history has given 

 Bremontier the credit for being the father of dune reclamation jn France, but it is 

 certain that there was considerable sowing on the dimes before Brdmontier's time. 

 In 1734 Alaire de Rust planted or sowed pine and oak on the dunes. In 1779 this work 

 was continued by De Rust's grandson, but owing to fires the experiment was not suc- 

 cessful. In 1773 the Comte de Mont Ausier presented a petition to the King to under- 

 take dune reclamation, but at that time it was declared illegal. In 1777 Desbiey 



