The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1907-12-26
A LESSON FROM FRANCE.
The Present Generation Benefited
and Future Generations Proyid-
ed For.

France has under way 4 far
sighted forest policy which will
require two centuries before The
work reaches its greatest efficiency.
The plan covers the retorestation
ofvast tracts of denuded land, and
the work IS in the hands of four
thousand trained foresters in the
i of the republic and a large
number of men employed by the
communal governments.
Consul General r. P. Skinner
tells how this work is being done
\ by a great nation keenly alive to
the necessity Of doing it, and de-
termined that it shall be done we'll -,
though years and centuries are
consumed in the doing. Colbert,
in the reign of Louis XVI, ex-
claimed, France will perish for
lack of woodp' and his prophecy
was coming true a century and a
half later, when the French peo-
pie walked to the peril which
threatened them, and called halt.
Their forests were vanishing as
are those in the United States to-
day, but the depletion had goue
even further than it has yet gone
in America. France commenced
protecting and restoring its wooded
areas nearly century ago, and
has stuck to the task ever since,
but so much yet remains to do
that Mr.. Skinner says in his re-
port:
The work IS slow. 1t will re-
quire probably two hundred years
to bring it up to its maximum eff
fectiveness. But the t me is fore
seen when existing damaged for
ests will be reconstructed, and
when all the waste spaces will be
replanted to the point Of proper
proportion to insure the conserva-
ton of the water supply and to
furnish the timber and wood re
quired by the population The
effect upon private land owners of
this public work has been most
salutary. Where absolutely bald
mountains have been replanted
very surprising local results are
now visible to all observers. This
IS especially true in the Hautes
Alps, which had the unenviable
reputation Of being the poorest de
partment in France, and is, in
fact, one Of the few from which
the United States has received
several thousand French i'm
migrants. There are now many
artifcially planted forests in this
department of twenty-five years
standing, and in the bottom land
below conditions have so improv-
ed that state of general pros
perity prevails. "
The plan of the French foresters
is comprehensive. l embraces
the care of forest land, planting OF
trees, fXation of dunes near the
coasts to prevent the drifting OF
sand upon agricultural land, cor
rection of mountain streams, regu-
lation of pasture land, utilization
OF water in pastoral and forest
regions and the surveillance OF
river fishing and fish culture. This
comprehensive service extends to
every part of the republic.
The area of the national forests
of the United States exceeds
twentyfold the national and com
munal forests of France, but the
problems are the same. France
has been longer at the work, and
when it began its forests were in a
worse condition than ours are
now, but not worse than our pri-
vately owned forests will be il
present methods continue.
Consul General Skinner con-
cludes his report with this sug-
gestion to those in America who
have shown sufficient interest in
the matter to write him on the
subject.
If correspondents could pene-
trate, as the! writer has done, the
almost inaccessible mountain vii.
lagos of this country and tbere