Essays on rural hygiene / by George Vivian Poore.

  • Poore, George Vivian, 1843-1904.
Date:
1894
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Essays on rural hygiene / by George Vivian Poore. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    seriously affect the value of the timber. Besides resin and timber the manufacture of charcoal is largely carried on—charcoal, as you are aware, being in great demand in France for a variety of purposes. Thus it appears that the waste moorlands on the shores of the Bay of Biscay have become of great com- mercial value. Journeyin.nj from Bordeaux to Bayonne, the railway passes through one long monotonous pine forest. When I state that the journey takes between four and five hours, you will be able to judge of the vast tract of country which, once the abomination of desola- tion, is now covered with millions of the resin-yielding Pinus mantima. The cultivation of the pine improves the soil, which is gradually enriched and altered in quality by the dead leaves and other vegetable debris which fall upon it. In some places clearings have been made in the forest and vineyards planted, and I need not remind you that the-most valuable vineyards in the world are on the southern bank of the Gironde, on the very fringe of the pine woods which I have been de- scribing. The rise in agricultural value of this tract of country, great as it is, is a small matter. The great gain after all has been the rendering wholesome of a pestilential swamp and the removal of a plague spot from the face of Nature. The shepherds of the Landes, except in very few places, have now no longer any need to walk about on stilts, and malaria and pellagra from being common have become rarities, and will soon be extinct. Life in this district no longer languishes and ends pre- maturely, but the inhabitants enjoy vigorous health, a]id that happiness and contentment which vigorous health alone can give. Population has increasad very rapidly since the