6b EXPLOITATION OF THE MARITIME PINE. 



" Of all these tools the only one requiring improvement is the sieve, 

 or riddle. It is of a rectangular shape, the longest side measures 1 

 metre, the shorter 65 centimetres, 4 pieces of wood about 25 centi- 

 metres high form the frame. The net- work meshes are 2 centimetres 

 in diameter, and are strengthened by transverse pieces of wood. It 

 is fixed to a post by a hook and a double handle, which serves for 

 putting in motion. It is with this sieve that the braise and the 

 charcoal powder are separated. 



" These two articles vary according to the composition of the 

 bourrees." 



In the Industrial Museum of Edinburgh, and it may be in other 

 similar institutions situated elsewhere, there have been exhibited 

 specimens of the products of the Landes, before and after having 

 been reclaimed from the conditions of wastes of moving sand, and 

 specimens of the implements employed in collecting the resinous 

 products of the trees. They were presented by M. Leopold Javal, 

 Deputy of the French Empire. 



From a statement accompanying the specimens referred to, it 

 appeared that the operations carried out on the ground where they 

 were obtained were conducted by planting seedlings to the leeward 

 of the older plantations, in intersecting narrow belts, and sheltering 

 these with hurdles till they had taken root and begun to grow. This 

 they soon did, and, thriving well in such situations, they very soon 

 became strong enough to withstand the wind, and form live fences 

 enclosing squares of considerable extent. 



These enclosures were then sown with rape, mustard, and other 

 rapid-growing crops, advantage being taken of wet weather to do 

 this. When the seed produoed by these had been collected, the 

 remainder of the plant was ploughed in to produce vegetable mould, 

 and the process was repeated until sufficient vegetable mould to 

 support grain and other more valuable crops had been produced. 



There were exhibited specimens of the sand, and of a bog iron ore 

 found about three feet below the surface, known as alios, with 

 specimens of the products of the land before cultivation. These con- 

 sisted chiefly of the common brake (Pteris aquilina) ; heather, or ling 

 (calluna vulgaris), which was used there, as elsewhere, for making 

 brooms ; the tree heath (erica arborea), a heath indigenous in the south 

 of Europe, and there found with stems measuring about an inch in 

 diameter ; and the furze, or whin (ulex europcea). 



Of products raised by cultivation there were exhibited white maize 



