60 LITERATURE ON TORRENTS. 



M. Montleuisant, entitled Note sur les SesSchements, les Endiguements^ et fes 

 Irrigations, which, isnot without its bearing on the subject in hand. And 

 about the same time a Memoir .by M. Delborgue Cormant, Ingdnieuren cMf 

 des Fonts et Ghaussees, on embankments. 



In 1834 appeared a second edition of a work previously published — His- 

 toire, TopograpMe, Antiquites, Usages, Dialects, des Sautes Alpes — by J. C. F. 

 Ladoucette, who had been prefect of the department, and who had been 

 eulogised as the best prefect the High Alps ever had had. A statue of him 

 erected in Gap speaks of the high estimation in which his labours for the 

 good of the department were held. By him the number of basins, or river- 

 valleys, in the High Alps is reckoned five, while by M. H6ricart de Thury 

 they had been reckoned eight, and by M. Surell they were afterwards, as 

 we have seen, reckoned to be three ; but, as has been stated, such enumera- 

 tions are mere matters of judgment in regard to what are entitled to be 

 considered separate basins, and to be entitled to this designation. This 

 work did not contribute much information in addition to what was 

 previously known on the particular aspect of the subject which connected it 

 with forest science. 



It was otherwise with another work by one who had also held the office 

 of prefect, a memoir, entitled Projet de boisement des Basses Alpes prisente a 

 S. E., li ministre secretaire d'etat de l'Interieur,par M. Dugied, ex-prifetde ce 

 departement. The following is a translation of a statement of his views : — 



" More than half of the department of the Low Alps is covered with arid 

 and unproductive soils. These are increased by numerous torrents, which, 

 descending there into the fertile valleys, complete the ruin of the country. 



" Two causes have contributed more especially to bring about this sad 

 state of things, — the destruction of forests on the one hand, and on the other 

 the rage for clearing land by grubbing up the roots, and herbs, and bush. 

 It is high time to apply remedies, for later to remedy the evil will have be- 

 come impossible. 



" To bring about a restoration of the department, three measures should 

 be adopted — (1) To prevent additional grubbing, and to restore to the 

 grubbed lands their primitive consistency ; (2) To plant the summits and 

 sides of mountains with trees; (3) To enclose the torrents. We shall 

 remark on each of these three measures in succession. 



" First Measure. — Grubbings may be prevented by enforcing the ordinance 

 of 1667, which pronounced a penalty of 3000 francs against all those who 

 should grub ground free of wood on declivities. And grubbed lands may 

 have their primitive consistency to some extent restored by compelling the 

 proprietors to convert them into artificial meadows, be it by the power of 

 the tribunals, or be it by administrative action. (The author cites an 

 experiment, from which it appears that sowing the grounds with sainfoin 

 Hedysarum Onohrychis, had completely consolidated a land previously sub- 

 jected to extensive waste). 



" Second Measure. — It follows, from statistical estimates, which have been 

 prepared, that the area ofthe ground in the Low Alps, which we may hope 

 to replant with trees with success, amounts to 150,000 hectares. It may 

 be accomplished by each year taking of this surface from two to three 

 thousand hectares, say 1200 acres, which it might be required of the pro- 

 prietors of the soil to replant. But here there presents itself more of a 

 difficulty. First, the great subdivision of the properties which will 

 multiply the cases of resistance, and the little revenue which the pro- 



