OIEOULAE OF IsT JUNE 1861. 163 



M. Vicaire, subsequently issued the following explanations, in a ciroula* 

 addressed to forest conservators, under date of Ist June 1861 : — 



" Paet I. — Eeboisembnts Faoultatifb, oe Sanotioned and Aided 

 Opeeations. 



" The Ist Article traces out the course to be followed by private pro- 

 prietors, the communes, or the public establishments, in the applications 

 for aid that they may have to make. By the terms of Art. 2 of the law of 

 28th July 1860, the aid in the reforesting of the lands situated on the 

 summits or the slopes of mountains is granted on account of the utility of 

 the work as regards the general good, having respect, in reference to the 

 communes and the public establishments, to their resources, their sacrifices, 

 and their need, as well as to the sums allotted by the General Councils for 

 reforesting. The communes, whose territory is situated in the regions where 

 the rehoisement of the mountains is in the highest degree important to the 

 public good are in general very poor, and often they have no other resources 

 than what they derive from pasturage. Every reduction in the extent of the 

 lands free to all excites among the inhabitants of these regions gTeat appre- 

 hension. Great efforts in the initiative could not, therefore, be expected 

 from them, and it is better in such cases to be lavish with encouragement. 

 The Government will contribute very largely to the expense of the work, 

 whenever the communes placed in these circumstances show their good- 

 will to the work. 



" When, on the other hand, the lands belong to proprietors more advan- 

 tageously situated in regard to pecuniary resources, it is better to be less 

 ready in giving aid, and to apportion this more strictly to the efforts and 

 sacrifices of the proprietors. 



" The law for the rehoisement of mountains is essentially a law of general 

 interest, and it is in this point of view that it is necessary to regard it in 

 considering the demands for aid. 



" With a view to securing proper order and regularity in the consideration 

 of such demands, they ought to be given in before the 15th of July of the 

 year previous to that in which the aid is required. Those which arrive 

 subsequently to that time will be carried over to the next year, excepting, 

 however, cases in which you may decide that it is better to proceed without 

 delay to the decision. The requests will be summed up in the form of 

 ordinary reconnaissances, and must reach the Government before the Ist of 

 September, with your observations and information, at the same time with 

 the accounts of the demands for seeds which you annually furnish for re- 

 sowing void places in the Government forests. It is not necessary to say 

 that the rule in regard to this can only be followed out when the demands 

 for aid shall have been established in an orderly manner. The demands 

 which reach you this year, or at the commencement of the next, wiU be 

 attended to with the least possible delay. 



" It is necessary to take every precaution to insure the proper application 

 of the aid. To this effect the demands should be made out upon formulas, 

 conformed to the models 1 and 2 hereto annexed. Notice should be given 

 of the granting of the aid, in the form of models Nos. 3, 4, 5, and 6. As 

 you will see, these different formulas have been arranged so as to make 

 known to the parties for whom the aid is destined the obligations to which 

 they are subjected, and at the same time to give to the Government the right 

 of exercising, in case of need, its right to reimbursement. 



