326 POSITION AND PROSPECTS OP THE ENTERPRISE, 



" The expense of the construction of the road, of the fixation of the bed 

 by dikes, and of the creation of a bridge, has been about 40,000 francs ; 

 the enquiries made formerly led to the estimate of the expense of the works 

 to be 60,000 francs. The change in the regime of the torrent has rendered 

 practicable the execution of definitive worTcs, and, moreover, has allowed these 

 works to be executed at less expense. 



" These three cases specially concern our roads ; they are the only ones I 

 can specify, giving details and figures. The other p^rimfetres operated on 

 by the Forest Administration are distant from roads, and do not relate to 

 these so particularly, consequently I cannot give figures, but I have not the 

 shadow of a doubt that they have had analogous results. 



" Be that as it may, the cases I have cited are in my opinion very 

 striking, and supply one means of measuring the advantages gained. As 

 for the advantages by which lands situated near to the cones profit, these 

 are immense. Not only are the proprietors relieved from the construction 

 of expensive, and, at best, precarious dikes and embankments, but their 

 property, having no longer the risk of being suddenly buried under gravel, 

 takes a definite value, and cultivation is carried on with the assured hope 

 of being followed by a harvest. This security is itself a very great benefit j 

 the proprietor, counting on the future, will not dream of expatriating him- 

 self, as numbers have done. 



" The successive extinction of the great torrents which threw themselves 

 upon the principal valleys will lead, inevitably, to a marked amelioration in 

 the regime of those water-courses, and this amelioration will extend to a 

 lower level of the river's course. 



" It appears to be established, or at least it is the opinion of the inhabi- 

 tants, that the waters coming from the restored p6rimtoes are less subject 

 to sudden variations in their delivery, and channels of irrigation connected 

 with them are fed in a more regular manner. It appears to me to be both 

 natural and probable that it should be so j but I cannot in regard to this 

 give any definite numbers. I cannot adduce any experiment, or conclusive 

 and testing observation. I confine myself to repeating what has been told 

 to me, and what I believe to be true. 



" At the close of 1867, for 81,012 hectares which had been restored and con- 

 solidated, M. Sequinard estimated the expense to have been 4,11 3,000 francs. 

 These figures are taken from the Annuaire des HaiCtes-Alpes for 1869. The 

 mean expense, then, would be about 50 francs per hectare; but I always 

 make this reservation, that the expense varies very much with the p6ri- 

 m^tres — in some it rises as high as 100 francs, in others it falls so low as 

 30 francs per hectare ; this depends on the nature of the soil, on the state 

 of desintegration, &c., (fee. 



" In the High Alps the total area to be restored is about 200,000 hect. 

 (that is I believe the number given in 1840 by M. Surell); the expense for the 

 whole department, then, will be 10 millions at the most, and 8 millions at 

 the least — taking the above stated mean, and taking into account that the 

 works will cost in the future, by reason of the experience acquired, less 

 than was provided at the commencement of the operation. 



" In 1840 M. Surell estimated the whole expense at 6 millions (100,000 

 francs per annum for sixty years). The difference is accounted for if it be 

 considered that, within these thirty years, labour has become more scarce 

 and higher priced. 



" I ought to mention, in fine, that the system adopted by M, Sequinard 



