DEPARTMENT OF l'aDDE. 309 



" Qazonnement has been employed on no part, as neither the land nor 

 the climate permitted of this. 



" During the preparatory inquests, and at the beginning of the opera- 

 tion, the Administration was sustained in the enterprise by the whole of 

 the more enlightened part of the population, and also by that portion of 

 the lower classes who derived no personal benefit from the communal pro- 

 perty ; but it was violently opposed by the proprietors of flocks, who con- 

 stituted the minority of the population. The disposition of these began 

 to improve from the time that indemnities for the deprivation of pasturage 

 were granted to the communes ; and everybody, even those who were once 

 the most opposed, have become convinced of the utility of reboisement. 



"The efficacy of the barrages has been generally acknowledged, and 

 many private proprietors have constructed them at their own expense on 

 those parts of their properties which they wished to retain for culture. 



Notwithstanding these facts, it is the case, that few of the inhabitants 

 consent to carry out the work of reboisements and barrages on the lands 

 comprised within the p6rimfetre. They wish to retain their lauds as pastur- 

 age, as the communal lands escape from this. 



" To complete, then, the work on the perim^tre, it is absolutely necessary 

 to acquire by degrees the required lands belonging to private proprietors , 

 and to continue the grants of indemnities for deprivation of pasturage. 



" These indemnities are based on an average of 4 francs per hectare 

 received in Citou and Lespinassifere, and of 2 fr. 70 cents, at Cannes. 



"The work done up to the 31st Dec. 1868 may be reported thus, over 

 the whole extent of the p6rim6tre ; — 



"Reboisement of 224h. 11-50a. dominal, 199h. 25a. communal, and 2h. 

 80.60a. of private lands— in all, 426h. 17.10a. 



" Pruning of plants scattered over the communal and dominal lands. 



" Preparation of 5000 layers of beech. 



" Construction of 932 rustic barrages of dry stone. 



" Construction of 175 mfeters of enclosing walls. 



" Opening up of 5330 metres of path. 



" The reboisements were made principally by sowings. The kinds of trees 

 employed up to this time were, according to the altitude and the soil, the 

 green oak, the hard oak, the chestnut, the Aleppo pine, the Mugho, and 

 the Atlas cedar. 



" When plantations could be made, use was made of the hard oak, the 

 chestnut, the ailanthus, the ash, the Mugho, aud the beech. Of the Mugho 

 employed in 1867 in the commune of Lespinassi^re, to the number of 

 50,000, almost all were uprooted by a continuous frost, which lasted from 

 the month of December 1867, to the 1st April 1868. These hard frosts, 

 followed in the month of April by heat, which was considerable, prevented the , 

 principal plantations being made in the spring, which is a serious matter, 

 on account of the facility with which the schistoze soils are heaved up. 

 When it does not freeze much in the months of February and March plant- 

 ing can be effected ; but the grants not being available at this season, nor 

 the seed to hand, it is necessary to renew the whole in autumn. 



This course of procedure has been followed since the commencement in 

 1864, and has not given very bad results, notwithstanding the deplorable 

 atmospheric circumstances to which the young plants had to submit. Tlie 

 excessive heat of summer is the cause of the principal failures in success. 

 The year 1869 may be cited as having been particularly disastrous. There 



