172 LBGISIiATION ON TOEEENTS. 



Lastio, in the Puy-de-D6me, possessed a piece of ground of 64 

 hectares, covered with heaths, which they could not dispose of in 

 1834 at the price of 7,000 francs. At this time a sowing of the 

 ground with Scotch firs was undertaken, at the expense of the 

 commune, with the assistance of the departmental treasury. The 

 expense was not great. To-day the ground is valued at 70,000 

 francs, and the commune begins to obtain from it products which in 

 a few years will be very considerable. The commune of Durtol, in 

 the same department, possessed a wood of 47 hectares, planted with 

 Scotch fir some fifteen or seventeen years before, in which they have 

 lately carried out a thinning which has brought into the communal 

 chest a sum of nearly 16,000 francs. Such cases are of a character 

 to remove hesitation. 

 " As regards private proprietors, the applications for subventions, which 

 have been made successively in the Ardfeche, are an indication of 

 what will occur, most likely, everywhere where the bite has been 

 given. The Administration will agree, moreover, to cause the works 

 of reboisemenf to be directed and superintended by its agents or by 

 special overseers, whenever a certain number of private proprietors, 

 resident in the same district, shall express a desire for this, and the 

 measure shall appear necessary to the success of the works, and 

 to their development. 



" Eeboisembnts Faoultatifs, oe Sanctioned Reboisembnts. 

 " The opinion was expressed that no applications for subventions should 

 be entertained which are made by private proprietors for the planting of 

 small widely separated pieces of ground, and which would require the Admini- 

 stration to expend money unprofitably, without the possibility of superin- 

 tending and controlling such widely scattered replenishings. 



" Remaeks. — Certain rules, most assuredly, ought to be observed in 

 the allocation of subventions. The reboisement of a territory which 

 is not attached to any similar operation completed or to be under- 

 taken, in most cases, will be of no advantage to the general interest, 

 and will not be of such a nature as to be encouraged by the State. 

 It will therefore be well, in case of requests for subventions, to 

 find out in what way the projected reboisement is related to the 

 public interest, and to keep this relation in view, when allocations 

 of money, seed, or plants are in question. Of course, at the begin- 

 ning of the enterprise, operations aided by the State will be a good 

 deal apart; it cannot be expected that all the proprietors in a given 

 area will resolve to effect these repeuplements contiguously. But 

 it is necessary to prevent the distances being so great as to make 

 the control of the subventions and the superintendence of the works 

 too difficult. 

 " It was proposed that rewards should be given to communes or to 

 private proprietors who shall be the first to enclose their lands. 



" Remarks. — The law regarding mountain reboisement limits its opera- 

 tion to works of reboisement strictly so-called. No portion of the 

 funds devoted to this work can be employed as premiums to pro- 

 prietors who may take the initiative in the enclosure of all, or of a 

 part, of their estates. But this can be always done as regards the 

 communes, by appealing to the law concerning bringing in the waste 

 communal lands. 



