78 • SYLV10ULTUBE IN LA SOLOGNE. 



birch, in poor, damp, and deep sand ; fourth, the chestnut, on rich, 

 damp, and deep sand. The oak is very hardy ; in poor soils it is 

 the most productive. 



" To conclude, it is not always easy to apply the rules laid down, 

 on account of the varieties of Boil ; but to ensure success two kinds of 

 deciduous trees should be associated with the pine — for example, the 

 oak and birch. 



" Fine coppice woods of chestnut are rare in Sologne, which seems 

 to prove that the soil is unsuitable. Nevertheless, solitary specimens 

 of chesnut trees of great beauty occur, but only in the neighbourhood 

 of the farms, where they have had the benefit of manure and culture. 



" The year in which the pines are sown may not always be a good 

 year for acorns. In this case the latter may be pricked in later 

 among the young pines. 



" When the pines and acorns are sown at the same time, the acorns 

 are first scattered in furrows, and when the ground is harrowed they 

 are covered to the proper depth. The pine seed is then sown and 

 covered by being slightly harrowed. Chestnuts are sown like acorns. 



" Birch seed is not sown in Sologne ; young plants, three years old, 

 collected in the neighbourhood of the old trees, are preferred." 



M. Boitel goes on to say : " Having pointed out the trees to be 

 employed on boisements, we may now consider the respective merits 

 of forests and agriculture as regards the general good. 



" It is impossible to bring a poor soil at once into cultivation, and 

 it may be considered as proved beyond a doubt that rehoisement is the 

 best way of improving land, and at the same time securing a speedy 

 return. 



" In Sologne, agriculture can only be profitably carried on in 

 certain favoured spots where the soil, argilo-silicious or silicio- 

 argillaceous, has been drained and manured ; but it is evident that 

 expensive improvements, in which the outlay exceeds the return, can 

 only be carried out on a very small scale in Sologne. A farm of 100 

 to 150 hectares will only contain 20 or 30 hectares which have been 

 treated in this way. 



" It is impossible to establish the relative proportion which ought 

 to exist between agriculture and boisement — local circumstances and 

 the position of the proprietor differ so very much. 



" The most experienced men devote to boisement, first, exhausted 

 land which is usually sandy ; second, Landes exceptionally poor. 



" We have already said that these Landes cannot at once be 



