TREE PLANTING IN FRANCE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2169, 10 July 1889, Page 2

TREE PLANTING IN FRANCE

. Id the northern dir.rlots of France the] systematic planting of trees ia aareled on j by the commune?, wLlob are something like th» Uounty Ooanolls or Road Boards of this colony. Evary highway has la two rowa of trooß gcowlag, one on enoh Bldß. They are very aooarately planted, and are generally about fifty feot apart. Writing on this subjtot In the "Amerloan Agriculturist," Mr 0. L, Allan haa the following :•-• 'The tree principally planted fa the bliiok poplar (Populas nlgra) a rapidly growing species attaining a height of from slily to seventy feet, When tha branches are about two Inches fn dUme'or about, fou .'-fifths of them are oat close to the trunk, leaving the tree with a brush. Hka top. These branches are m»ie Into bundles ex Inches In dlim9ter, and sold as fagots. This Ib About the only fuel aaod Id the agrionltnral diatrlo'a of France. Those fagota eel at fifteen francs (about 12s) per handrod. A trea sixty feot lv height will yield 'abmt thirty of them fagots ever? seven yeais, which ia the regulation period for cutting. When the bole reaches a diameter of from fifteen to twenty inches, the trees are our, the lower portions being sold to work up into matoh.es, and the tops, or knotty portions, for charcoal In one department, Maine et Loire, the annual revenue from th ise plantings, £6000, is used as afnnd for keeping roada m repair, and tbe surp'us for such purposes as tho commune may determine. No country has finer roads than France ; they are all maoadamiaed and perfectly smooth. Yet tb« reveaue necessary to provide snob p?rfeot roads is all derived from roadside tr es. To a stranger who is at all observant, the trees m France present a singular appearance m their various stages of growth. Some are closely trimmed ; others show from one to seven years' growth. The poplars we s-.iff and symmetrical, while the oaks and walnuts assume a^me fantastio forms. In a ride of throe hundred miles by railway, without anyone to question and these trees on every side, one's ouriosity is greatly excited and his imagination piotures every cause for these strange forms except the right one— all for revenue.!'