26 Proceedings op fat 



enacted making it obligatory for the owner of moun- 

 tains or mountain slopes to reforest them if denuded. 

 The application of this law is one of my earliest 

 souvenirs. In i860, I was not very, very old, and I 

 went often with my grandfather to see our Govern- 

 ment-ordered plantation. The Government supplied 

 the seed and we had to do all the rest. For years I 

 went to see our trees, and I had difficulty in seeing 

 them, they were so small. Now when I go, the trees 

 can scarcely perceive me, they are so tall. 



A new law was passed in 1862, giving more liberty 

 to the landowner. He is allowed to refuse to do the 

 work. The Government has then the right to pay him 

 a fair sum for his land and expel him and plant the 

 trees, so important is it considered for the whole com- 

 munity. For the importance of such plantations is 

 more and more apparent. We see destruction and 

 poverty invade the parts where the rules have not been 

 applied; wealth and comfort grow in those where the 

 rules have been followed. Where there is a just pro- 

 portion of forest ground the temperature is more equal, 

 the yielding of water more regular, and, as President 

 Roosevelt has so well shown a moment ago, forests 

 have a most beneficent effect with regard to winds. 

 Observations in the South of France have shown that, 

 since the Esterel has been reforested, the destructions 

 caused by that terrible wind called the mistral have 

 diminished. 



The seacoasts of France were being gradually 

 invaded by the sand, and the wind carried this death 

 powder further inland, as years passed on. In 1810, 

 we tried forestry, and the forest showed itself, as usual, 

 the friend of man. The sand country has entirely 

 disappeared, as well on the Ocean as on the Channel, 

 and the desolate regions of yore are now wealthy. 



