FORESTRY IN FRANCE. 1 9 



recruited largely from ex-soldiers who have shown especial intelligence and 

 fidelity during their years of military service. For good conduct and effi- 

 ciency as "gardes" they may, after long service in the forestry corps, be 

 promoted to ' ' brigadiers ' ' without having taken the course of study at Bar- 

 res. For the actual labor of preparing and planting the ground laborers are 

 employed in the neighborhood of the work to be performed, and the money 

 thus distributed by the state has gone far to compensate the peasants for the 

 restrictions which exclude their flocks from the newly-planted forests and 

 pastures. 



In 1879 i' '"'^ estimated that 250,000 acres of practically waste^land had 

 been thus reclaimed during the preceding nineteen years at a cost to the state 

 of ^500,000 per annum during that period. The law of April, 1882, which 

 enables the government to appropriate all lands near the sources of rivers, 

 " reboisement "|^is deemed necessary, has greatly facilitated the work, and the 

 area thus reclaimed in the single department of Basses Alpes since 1864 is not 

 less than 50,000 acces. 



The trees and shrubs principally employed are as follows : For the high 

 lands the fir, larch, beech, and black Austrian pine. For lower situations 

 and valleys, the live oak, sylvan pine, Corsican pine, maritime pine, carob 

 tree, cork tree, chestnut, and pine of Aleppo. These are planted according 

 to the nature of soil, exposure, &c., either from the seed or as young plants 

 grown in nurseries conveniently established for that purpose. Experience has 

 shown that certain of these varieties, by reason of their long, central roots 

 and absence of lateral rootlets, are difficult to transplant with safety, even at 

 the age of one or two years, and they are therefore propagated by planting 

 the seeds upon grounds to be rewooded, which if poor or especially exposed, 

 are previously prepared by digging and sowing with grass or small plants 

 which will hold the soil in place and give the young trees a temporary shelter. 

 Those of the above species which are found in practice to grow best from di- 

 rect seed planting are the maritime pine, the live oak, cork tree, the gall- 

 bearing oak {"Chene rouvre"'), the chestnut, and Corsican pine. The carob 

 tree, beech, elm, and fir, as well as the sylvan pine and black Austrian pine, 

 require to be planted as young trees or sprouts,, propagated from seeds in nur- 

 series and transplanted at the age of one or two years. 



The poplar and willow can be easily grown in favorable situations from 

 cuttings planted in holes pierced in the soil with a sharp iron instrument hav- 

 ing a transverse wooden handle like an augur. 



In soils which are very dry and much exposed to sun and violent winds 

 oaks and pines are grown together in order that the latter may give to the 

 more delicate and slow-growing oaks a certain protection during their first 

 years of immaturity. Beeches and firs are planted only after such prelimi- 

 nary shelter has been successfully established. 



The method of planting, as well as the implements employed, vary en- 

 tirely with the altitude, nature, and condition of the soil, some seeds being 

 sown broadcast, while others are planted with the hoe, like corn, at intervals 



