IN THE " EDINBURGH BEVIEW." 35 



destroyed. The sand gradually rose amongst the crops as if they 

 were inundated with water ; and the herbage and the tops of trees 

 appeared quite green, and healthy even at the moment of their being 

 submerged. On this moving and shifting sea, M. Bremontier sowed 

 seeds of the common broom mixed with those of the pinaster, com- 

 mencing on the side next the sea — or on that from which the wind 

 generally prevailed, and sowing in narrow zones in directions at right 

 angles to that of the wind. The first zone was protected by a line 

 of hurdles, and after it was established, it protected the second, as 

 the second did the third, and so on. 



" To prevent the seed being blown away before it had germinated 

 and become firmly rooted, he protected it by various ingenious modes, 

 such as hurdles and thatching, and he had at last the gratification, 

 after conquering many difficulties, of seeing his first zones firmly 

 established. The rest was then comparatively easy ; and by degrees 

 the trees covered the whole of these sandy downs, not only providing 

 the interior country with a barrier against the incursion of the sands, 

 but turning the downs themselves from a desolate waste into a source 

 of productive industry. Although the timber is of little value, the 

 manufacture of tar, turpentine, and other resinous products furnishes 

 sufficient occupation for the inhabitants, who are thinly scattered 

 over large spaces. Among the efforts of man to control the elements 

 and the powers of nature the conquests of the Landes from the desola- 

 tion of the desert is entitled to a place beside the recovery of Holland 

 from the empire of the sea. 



"An agricultural genius, who, having studied agriculture, and 

 particularly drainage, under scientific teachers, devised a system of 

 reclaiming and husbandry, which has been very successful. 



" Prosperity is rapidly following these improvements, and, what is 

 better, malaria no longer poisons the reclaimed district. The 

 peasantry enjoy better health, and M. Pierre firmly believes that the 

 terrible pdlagri will soon be unknown in the Landes." 



