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Matilda Betham-Edwards - East of Paris
on which it lights. The havoc spread with terrible rapidity. From every vine-growing region of France
arose cries of consternation. Within the space of a few years hundreds of thousands of acres were
hopelessly blighted. In 1878 the invader was first noticed at Meursault in Burgundy; a few days later it
appeared in the Botanical Gardens of Dijon. The cost of replanting vineyards with American stocks is so
heavy, viz.: twenty pounds per hectare, that even many rich vintagers have preferred to cultivate other
crops. Some owners have sold their lands outright.
On quitting Is-sur-Tille we enter the so-called Plat de Langres, or richly cultivated plains stretching
between that town and Toul, in the Department of the Meurthe and Moselle.
With the almost sudden change of landscape - woods, winding rivers, and hayfields in which peasants are
getting in their autumn crop, literally mauve-tinted from the profusion of autumn crocuses - we encounter
sharp contrasts, the events of 1870-1 changing the French frontier, necessitating the transformation we
now behold - once quiet, old-world towns now wearing the aspect of a vast camp, everywhere to be seen
military defences on a wholly inconceivable scale. It is comforting to hear from the lips of those who
should know, that at the present time war is impossible, the engines of warfare being so tremendous that
the result of a conflict would be simply annihilation on both sides. After ten years' absence, and in spite
of radical changes, the elegant, exquisitely kept town of Nancy appears little altered to me. The ancient
capital of Lorraine is now one of the largest garrisons on the eastern frontier, but the military aspect is
not too obtrusive. Except for the perpetual roll of the heavy artillery waggons and perpetual sight of the
red pantalon, we are apt to forget the present position of Nancy from a strategic point of view.
Other changes are pleasanter to dwell on. The Facultes, or schools of medicine, science, and law,
removed hither from Strasburg after the annexation, have immensely increased the intellectual status of
Nancy, whilst from the commercial and industrial side the advance has been no less. Its population has
doubled since the events of 1870-1, and is constantly increasing. Why so few English travellers visit this
dainty and attractive little capital is not easy to explain. More interesting even than the artistic and
historic collections of Nancy is the celebrated School of Forestry. Formerly a few young Englishmen
were out-students of this school, but since the study had been made accessible at home the foreign
element at the time of my visit, consisted of a few Roumanians, sent by their Government. The Ecole
Forestiere, courteously shown to visitors, was founded sixty years ago and is conducted on almost a
military system. Only twenty-four students are received annually, and these must have passed severe
examinations either at the Ecole Agronomique of Paris, or at the Ecole Polytechnique. The staff consists
of a director and six professors, all paid by the State. Two or three years form the curriculum and
successful students are sure of obtaining good Government appointments. Forestry being a most
important service, every branch of natural science connected with the preservation of forests, and
afforesting is taught, the school collections forming a most interesting and wholly unique museum. Here
we see, exquisitely arranged as books on library shelves, specimens of wood of all countries, whilst
elsewhere sections from the tiniest to the gigantic stems of America. Very instructive, too, are the models
of those regions in France already afforested, and of those undergoing the process; we also see the
system by means of which the soil is so consolidated as to render plantation possible, namely, the
arresting of mountain torrents by dams and barrages. In the Dauphine, and French Alps generally, many
denuded tracks are in course of transformation, the expense being partly borne by the State and partly by
the communes. It is impossible to over-estimate the importance of such works, alike from a climatic,
economic, and hygienic point of view. The extensive eucalyptus plantations in Algeria, teach us the value
of afforesting, vast tracks having been thereby rendered healthful and cultivable.
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