November, 1908.] 



149 



TIMBER. 



WHAT FORESTRY HAS DONE. 



The following Extract is reprinted 

 from Circular 140, Forest Service, U. S. 

 Department of Agriculture : — 

 France. 



France has not quite 18 per cent, of 

 forest— three-fifths of an acre per capita. 

 This is enough Co produce only one-third 

 of the home demand. The country im- 

 ports annually $30,000,000 worth of wood, 

 and pays $6,000,000 duty and $10,000,^00 

 freight for it. This wood comes from 

 Russia, Sweden, Norway, Austria-Hun- 

 gary, Germany and America. Of the 

 23,500,000 acres of French forests the 

 State owns 2,707,000 and the Department 

 and communes 3,472,000. Since 1827, 

 when the first Code was passed, the 

 State and communal forests have been 

 under management. The State forests 

 yield a clear profit of $4,737,250 a year, 

 or $1 "75 per acre; S0 - 95 is spent for the 

 management of each acre every year. 



The best managed State forests yield 

 about 40 cubic feet per acre a year, 

 which is low compared with the yield of 

 some other European forests, such as 

 those of Prussia, Saxony, or Wiirttem- 

 berg. 



The great achievement of France in 

 forestry has been the establishment of 

 protective forests where much destruc- 

 tion had been caused by floods and winds. 

 From various causes large areas were 

 cleared of forests toward the close of the 

 eighteenth century, and only when it 

 was too late was it realised that these 

 lands were not fit for agriculture and 

 should have been left in forest. To 

 repair the mistake, a movement to forest 

 began in the nineteenth centuiy. It 

 was an exceedingly expensive mistake. 

 Down to the present time, encouraged 

 by wise laws, the State, the communes, 

 and private landowners have restored 

 to forest over 2,500,000 acres, and so 

 saved them from ruin. In addition, the 

 resulting forests return an excellent 

 revenue. 



Two- thirds of the torrents of Europe 

 are in France. In the Alps, the Ceven- 

 nes, and the Pyrenes mountains there 

 are 1,462 brooks and mountain streams 

 which are considered dangerous. Nearly 

 a million acres of mountain slopes are 

 exposed to erosion by these streams, to 

 say nothing of the flat low land below. 



As far back as the sixteenth century 

 there were local restrictions against 

 clearing mountain sides, enforced by 

 57 



fines, confiscation, and corporal punish- 

 ment. In the main these prevented 

 ruinous stripping of hillsides, but with 

 the French Revolution these strictions 

 were swept aside and the mountains 

 were cleared at such a rate that disas- 

 trous effects were felt Avithin ten years. 

 By 1803 the people had become aroused 

 to the folly of this cutting. Where use- 

 ful brooks had been there now rushed 

 torrents which flooded the fertile fields 

 and covered them with sterile soil 

 washed down from the mountains. The 

 clearing continued unchecked until some 

 800,000 acres of farm land had been 

 ruined or seriously injured, and the 

 population of eighteen Departments had 

 been reduced to poverty and forced to 

 migrate. By 1800 the State took up 

 the problem, but in such a way that the 

 burden of expense for reforestation was 

 thrown upon the mountaineers, who, 

 moreover, were deprived of much pas- 

 turage. Complaints naturally rose. Au 

 attempt was made to check torrents by 

 sodding instead of by forest planting. 

 This, however, proved a failure, and 

 recourse was again had to planting, by 

 the law of 1882, which provides that the 

 State shall bear the cost. Since then the 

 excellent results of planting have com- 

 pletely changed public sentiment. The 

 mountaineers are most eager to have 

 the work go on and are ready to offer 

 their land for nothing to the Forest 

 Department. In addition to lands 

 secured by gift, the State reclaims 25,000 

 to 30,000 acres a year. Over 500,000 acres 

 have been acquired, and more than one- 

 half of this area has been planted. Al- 

 ready 163 of the torrents have been 

 entirely controlled and 654 are begin- 

 ning to show the controlling effects of 

 the forest on their watersheds. Thirty- 

 one of the torrents now entirely con- 

 trolled were considered hopelessly bad 

 a half century ago. 



It is expected that ^50,000,000 will have 

 been spent before the work of reforest- 

 ing for protection is complete. 



The sand dunes on the coast of France, 

 mainly in Gascony, which the winds 

 drove farther and farther inland, wast- 

 ing the vineyards, have now largely been 

 fixed in place by forest plantations 

 which were begun in 1793. Of the 350,000 

 acres of the sand dunes 275,000 have been 

 planted in forest, and the dunes instead 

 of being a constant menace to the neigh- 

 bouring farmers, now are growing crops 

 of pine which produce valuable Avood 

 and resin. In all, about $2, 000,000 was 

 spent in the work, and an additional 



