39° REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



No. 14 shows a scene on a fire lane at the foot of a sand dune in Gascony. Here 

 there is wood to burn, and they often have forest fires which are almost American 

 in nature. This district was once inhabited by a lot of timid, sickly shepherds, who 

 walked from place to place on stilts. The region was either a pestilential swamp or 

 a mass of shifting sand. Now it is a health resort. 



No. 24 shows the method of tapping trees for resin in this district. This tree is 

 being tapped to death purposely, because it interferes with the growth of an oak 

 near by. This is not the true cork oak, but a species of southern oak which yields 

 cork. In general the pine trees are very carefully tapped, so that they live to a ripe 

 old age and produce in the course of their lives a large quantity of resin, quite a 

 contrast to the system practiced in our south. There has developed a very fine set 

 of implements and machines for collecting and manufacturing resin in France. 



No. 15 shows a forest-clad dune in the background. This mass of sand which 

 fringes the Bay of Biscay is held in check by a forest of pine. In its lee and depend- 

 ing upon its protection are extensive oyster pares where the oyster is reared from 

 the egg. Many a well-to-do peasant has a farm under water in this district. The 

 stakes are to prevent big fish from settling on the beds. The women do a great deal 

 of this work, and being more prosperous and up to date than their sisters in Italy 

 and Germany wear pants while working in the water. 



Travel southward into the Pyrenees or northeastward to the Alps and you will 

 see extensive works in the mountains for the prevention of floods. It requires great 

 calamities to arouse people to the possibilities of their efforts. The shifting sands 

 of France which buried villages, and the floods of the Rhone, opened the eyes of the 

 people of France. Would that the loss of six hundred lives in forest fires in Minne- 

 sota in one year had the same effect ! 



No. 17 shows the nature of some of the work in the mountains of France. To 

 tame the torrent it must be attacked in the rills of its source where its forces are 

 small and scattered. This was once a forested region. It was deforested, pastured, 

 eroded and ruined. On this very spot there is again a forest produced by hard toil 

 and infinite pains. How fortunate the country which possesses forest-clad mountains 

 and fertile, well-cultivated valleys ! Such a country will be stable and free from 

 starvation. In spite of social and political drawbacks, in spite of the inheritances 

 which fetter her, Germany is such a country. 



No. 18 shows a typical German scene. There are well- forested mountains, with 

 the exception of a bare spot due to a landslide, with fertile meadows and fields below 

 in the valley, with a fine stone road and forest-fed stream, the former to facilitate 

 traffic, the latter to grind the grain and saw the wood. 



