1196 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



timber they offered the opportunity of securing excellent 

 material. The French foresters estimated that under 

 their customary methods of marking for the type a cut 

 of 86,000 M3 (34,000,000 feet, B. M.) would be secured, 

 representing in this instance a cut of 90 M3 per hectare 

 (9,000 feet, B. M., per acre). The average tree approxi- 

 mated 20 inches in diameter and 70 feet in height, and 

 of lower quality than at Quillan. Defect was more 

 noticeable. The surface was exceedingly rough and uni- 

 formly steep, which, with a lack of substantial forest 

 roads, made the forests very questionable for operating 

 except under war conditions. Some patient and thrifty 

 Frenchmen were engaged in hauling logs from the vicin- 



growth. If his offer was in good faith he merits the 

 sympathy of his countrymen; if made in bad faith he has 

 since learned that the buying of timber by the A. E. F. 

 was not wholly a paper transaction. 



We learned of a tract of mountain pine near Mont 

 Louis, Pyrenees Orientals, reported to contain from 

 80,000 M3 to 100,000 M3. Our trip to the tract from 

 Axat was not without interest in that we picked up two 

 French gendarmes en route to the nearest telephone, 12 

 miles, to report the escape of two Boche prisoners, who, 

 presumably with a Spanish confederate, were headed for 

 the border. It may be remarked that even under the 

 favorable chances for concealment in the mountains of 



AXOTHER VIEW OF THE TERRITORY AROUND QUII.LAN, IN THE EASTER.V PYRENEES. THE TIMBER IS MOSTLY ON THE 



HIGH PI.ATE.AU NEAR THE CITY 



thai region the odds are strongly against the Boche 

 having escaped the vigilant gendarmes. 



The timber department of the French Army (Centre de 

 Bois), had already secured a liberal cession of the moun- 

 tain pine and were engaged in operating it when we 

 reached there. We were informed of a controversy which 

 had arisen out of the cession, the Commune and the 

 National Forest Service (Department des Eaux et Forets) 

 disagreeing on the extent to which cutting on the forest, 

 which was Communal, should be permitted. The Com- 

 mune insisted that the timber be clear cut so that the 

 land could be devoted to agricultural use. The Forest 

 Service was equally insistent upon conservative cutting 

 and the retention of the land for timber production on 

 the ground that the balance between agricultural and 

 timber land in the region should not be disturbed. The 



ity to Axat with oxen, making two trips a week. The 

 plan of operation outlined for the A. E. F. was to skid 

 and haul the logs by carts to the main road where the 

 logs would be loaded on the tractors or trucks for the 

 haul down the canyon to the proposed mill site at Axat. 

 An amusing, yet provoking, incident in connection with 

 our timber examinations near Axat was an offer for sale 

 of 3,000,000 M3 (750,000,000 feet, B. M.) by an enter- 

 prising American who apparently wanted to do his coun- 

 try a bit. His claim of title covered a scope of country 

 worthy of a favored nobleman. Vigorous mountain 

 climbing and the use of field glasses revealed the fact 

 that the only merchantable timber within the area defined 

 was that on the forest of Hares and Carcanet, title to 

 which had passed to the State 20 years ago. The remain- 

 ing area was mountain tops, gorges and slopes with scrub 



