3S8 hxiunna poeests. 



And on rehoisement and gazonnement — the means by which the greater 

 and more destructive torrents of pre-adamic times were extinguished — 

 being employed artificially, at great expense, but on a corresponding 

 magnitude, to bridle and subdue, and if possible utilize their successors of 

 the present day, and to cause them to minister to the promotion of indus- 

 trial operations which they have disturbed and destroyed, they have proved 

 efficient. 



• ;.Chap. II. — Existing Forests. 



• 



While the torrents which have committed such ravages and devastations 

 in France are attributed, and justly so, to the clearing away of forests, it 

 must not be supposed that the forests have been utterly and everywhere 

 absolutely destroyed. According to a valuable paper addressed to the 

 Academy of Sciences in 1865, by M. Becquerel, it appears from official 

 statements that France has an area of 52,768,610 hectares, or 131,921,525 

 acres, of which 8,804,55i hectares, or 22,011,376 acres — or about a sixth 

 part of the whole surface of France— are covered with forests, and of this 

 the new plantations constitute but a fractional part. 



M. Marschand, in a work I have cited, gives the following picture of the 

 extent to which natural forests are still extant on the Alps : — " The Alpine 

 mountains may be considered as divided into three great zones : at the 

 summit, around the rooks and glaciers, are the pastures ; lower down are 

 the forests ; the bottoms of the valleys, where the villages are usually 

 situated, is cultivated. This division is necessary, and wherever it has 

 been disturbed the greatest misfortunes have followed these infractions of 

 the laws of nature. 



" The zone of pastures, or alpages, consists usually either of valleys or 

 of high acclivities ; its existence is due to this, that at such heights, where 

 forests and cultivation do not flourish, herbage grows spontaneously — 

 thanks to the fertility of the soil, enriched and improved by the great 

 quantity of snow which covers it during the winter. This zone exists 

 everywhere, and everywhere can be modified. In many countries the 

 abuse of the pasturage by overstocking has impoverished, and sometimes 

 ruined, the higher pastures ; but this is a local, and generally a temporary, 

 evil, which wise regulations and skilful labour can remedy. 



" Below the alpages are situated the forests ; this is their natural 

 position, here they grow to the greatest perfection — in a word, nature has 

 placed them here to protect the valley by arresting the torrents which flow 

 over the alpages, and the avalanches which slide down the higher slopes. 

 Their salutary influence extends to the climate, and to the production and 

 regulation of a slow and measured flow of water in the spring. In a 

 word, without these forests the Alps would only present an immense 

 ruin, threatening all the districts traversed by the floods which flow down 

 its sides. 



" I should add, that there is often too much dogmatism displayed in 

 fixing the altitudes of the different zones, especially the forest zone. I have 

 often heard the erroneous argument, — ' I have seen at such a place a grove 

 of larches, or of some other tree, situated at a great height — 2800 mtoes 

 for example. I therefore conclude that we may plant the kind of trees I 

 have seen at the same altitude.' In opposition to this opinion I would 

 remark, that the upper limit of the forests rises with the bottom of the 



