ABSTRACT EEPOBT 1862. 201 



Subventions in money and in kind, amounting to 280,000 francs, 

 representing about two-thirds of the total expense of the works. 



The rehoisemeni of private property has been most extensively carried 

 out in the departments of the Gard and the Dr6me, where the subventions 

 amounted to 70,000 francs, representing about 40 per cent, of the total 

 expense of the works. 



The discovery, it is stated, is being made, that reboisement is an opera- 

 tion much more fruitful in immediate advantages than had been generally 

 believed. 



The report cites two examples of these advantages : 



A commune possessed a district of 64 hectares covered with heath, 

 which had not been sold, though in 1844 offered for sale at 7000 francs. 

 At this time a sowing of pin sylvestre was undertaken, at the expense of the 

 municipal chest ; there was little additional expense ; and now this district 

 is valued at more than 70,000 francs. Another commune possesses a wood 

 of 47 hectares in extent, planted with pins sylvestres about 15 or 16 years 

 old. Lately a thinning was eflFected, which produced 16,000 francs. 



These well-known facts have not a little contributed to the favour with 

 which the works of reboisement are regarded in the departments in which 

 they had been carried out. 



Joint stock companies, or associations of capital, are now very advan- 

 tageously employed for the exploitatimi of different branches of industry. The 

 acquisition of mountain districts on generally very moderate terms, and their 

 replenishment with wood by the help of large subventions, seems to form the 

 basis of a speculation which is both productive and exempt from risk of loss. 



The restocking of the mountain Crown lands had extended, in 1862, 

 over 1866h. 03 ares, at an expense of 146,747 fr. 51 ct. 



B. Beboisements Obligatoires, or Enjoined Reboisements. 



In all cases in which public safety demands the creation of such hinder- 

 ances as reboisement can offer to the irregular action of rivers or floods, or to 

 the crumbling of the ground, and where the safety of the inhabitants, the 

 condition of the roads, and the culture of the lower declivities, are most 

 threatened by torrents and avalanches, the law has commanded the formation 

 of woods ; the extent of these is in proportion to the hydraulic effects they 

 are designed to produce. 



The Administration has carefully considered the condition of the dis- 

 tricts where reboisement seemed to be most urgently required. 



These careful inquiries in 1861 and 1862 extended over 21 departments, 

 and gave rise to the origination of 269 enterprises, comprehending 136,756 

 hectares. 



89 undertakings, extending over an area of 59,833h. 28a. have been offi- 

 cially inspected. The projects have encountered a good deal of opposition. 



" It is necessary clearly to define the character of this opposition," says 

 the Director General of Forests, " in order to exhibit the influence of the 

 operation of reboisement upon the condition of the mountain population. 



" lu most cases the herds of cattle do not belong to the poorer inhabit- 

 ants. The flocks.of sheep belong to a certain number of local owners, who 

 make all they can out of the communal lands, or to people from a distance, 

 whose immense flocks, known by the name of transhumant flocks, every year 

 cover the mountains leased from the communal bodies, at usually a very 

 moderate rent. 



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