These forests have been under government management for a hundred years. and they are the most productive and profitable in the world. yielding an average net return of $2.40 per acre. The stripping of the forests from the mountains of France was unchecked until 1860. by which time 800.000 acres of farm land had been ruined or seriously damaged and the waterways practically destroyed. The population of 18 departments had been reduced to poverty and fotced to emigrate. A futile attempt was then made to check the torrents by sodding. It was only by the acquisition of the bare lands. the building of stone walls for the gathering of silt. and the planting of trees on the soil held in check by those walls that the French Government was able finally to accomplish satisfactory results.
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