188 LEOISLATION ON TORBBNTS. 



conditions of soil, exposure, inclination, &o. The most favourable season is 

 spring, in climates where the winters are very severe. In the middle, or 

 low lying districts, autumn seems preferable, on account of its permitting 

 the young plant time to get strength to resist the great heats of summer. 

 The spring seems to suit better for the plantations of resinous trees. There 

 is reason to believe that plantations of these, when the sap begins to move, 

 succeed more certainly. Broad-leaved plants seem to accommodate them- 

 selves better to the autumn planting. 



" The expense of carrying on the work of plantation amounts, for the 

 hand labour, to 70 francs, by the hectare, in the Loire, to 57 francs in the 

 Haute-Loire, to 48 francs in the Cantal, to 38 francs in Puy-de-D6me. 



" Seedlings brought from the depths of forests, and planted in various 

 localities experimentally, with a view to determining the economical 

 importance of such a procedure, have not given satisfactory results. 

 " BimarJes, c&c, of the Administration. 



" The A.dministration is aware that plants from the source mentioned 



have no great value. But in order to avoid the expense of purchase, 



it was necessary to try to derive some advantages from the resources 



offered by the forests, until such time as the nurseries shall yield 



plants. 



" The conference at Foix was of opinion that it is best to employ the 



indigenous products of the Pyrenees — such as the Mugho, or dwarf pine, 



the Scotch fir, the birch, the silver fir, the ash, the beech, the oak, the 



evergreen oak, the great maple, and the chesnut ; and to continue the 



experiments which had been made with plantations of the Norway pine, 



the Austrian pine, the acacia, the silver fir, the ailanthus, the larch, the pine 



of Aleppo, and the mountain pine. These kinds to be distributed according 



to the altitude, to the local conditions, and to the results of experience. 



" The planting in separate holes plants transplanted from nurseries seems 

 to ofier the best chances of success. The planting in clumps is, however, 

 preferable, when disposing of very young plants taken from a plantation 

 near the lands to be reforested. 



"The number of plants on each hectare may vary from 10,000 to 2,500, 

 this last number being applicable more especially to saplings, and to the 

 chesnuts, if it be desired to obtain from them poles of good growth at an 

 early age. The season of spring being almost unknown on the mountains, 

 where great heat succeeds, almost always without interval, to the cold of 

 winter, the autumn is in all cases the most convenient season for planting. 

 The price of hand-labour varies from 50 to 100 francs per hectare. The 

 purchase of plants has occasioned an expense of not less than 10, 15, and 

 25 francs per thousand plants. 



" Remarks, iSsc., of the Administration. 

 " The minimum of 2,500 plants per hectare appears very small. The 

 reforesting of the mountains having especisdly for its object to cover 

 the soil, independently of the addition of future produce, it is better 

 to avoid planting the trees separately, at great distances apart. 

 "The nurseries belonging to the Administration promise soon to 

 supply plants at less expense than that at which at present they 

 can be obtained 

 "The agents at the conference at Carpentras stated that they had 

 employed, on L'Isfere, and the High and the Low Alps, the white oak up to 

 1000 mfetres of altitude, the acacia up to 900 metres, in aU exposures. The 



