THE MEETING OF LOGGING METHODS IN FRANCE 



1535 



being applied by law to all state and comnumal forests, 

 is operative, therefore, for most of the region. 



The effects of forest management upon the economic 

 conditions of this timbered region is a thing that strikes 

 an American very forcibly. The exploitation of the for- 

 ests is a permanent business in each locality. The forest 

 never disappears, for roughly, only the amount of wood 

 grown each year is cut, and it is thus a permanent source 

 of revenue to the inhabitants of the mountain villages. 

 The grazing lands and the forests are the two principal 

 supports of the mountain population. The "bucherons," 

 or wood cutters, and the "voituriers." or wagoners, have 

 their ])ennanent homes in the villages, and go out to 

 work in the same forests year after year. This feature 

 is a direct contrast to the conditions in most forested 

 regions of America. biU it foreshadows the conditions 



THE FORESTRY E.XGIXEERS WEXT IX FOR W.\R GARDENS. 

 FRENCH WERE HIRED TO DO THE PLOWING. IT TAKES 

 THE MAN AND HIS WIFE TO DO THE JOB 



that will be brought about in the future by the stabiliza- 

 tion of the timlier industry. Tlie b^rench inhabitants of 

 these timbered regions have come to feel that they have 

 vested interests in the surrounding forests. It is no small 

 wonder that the native "bucherons" looked with concern 

 u])on the rapid methods of logging which the Americans 

 introduced in "their" forests. But in every case it was 

 conceded that the American logging methods were pre- 

 ferable to German methods. 



The French methods of logging as they have been 

 developed under such conditions proved to be of interest 

 to the American loggers. Of course, it is understood 

 that these forests are under the direct care of the French 

 Forest Service and all operations within the forests are 

 subjected to specified requirements. But it is meant here 

 to emphasize the status of the French lumberjack as a 

 result of a permanent timber industry brought about by 

 forest management. The French "lumberjack" is a 



sturdy type, with fixed ideas, and brings with him to 

 the present many of the methods of his fathers. There 

 is not a great probability that timber exploitation in 

 America will follow the same lines as it has in Europe. 

 The annual cut of a forest having been determined 

 upon and marked by the French forest officers, the 



IllK l,K\ll-,k .MILL, ^KT 1 .\ IHL .\l I UsT OF A HKA\1LV 

 TIMBERED AREA 



"bucheron" comes into the forest equipped with rather 

 primitive tools. He contracts with the timber merehant 

 to fell and bark, and to skid and haul for so much per 

 cubic meter. The first operation is aerial limbing to 

 lircvcnt damage to young growth when the timber is 



SKIDDING A HEAVY CUT NEAR THE SWISS BORDER 



felled. For this a specialist — a sort of steeplejack — has 

 been developed. Equipped with climbing irons, a frail 

 safety belt and a short handled ax, he climbs the bole 

 of the tree up to the branches and works his way up to 

 within 6 or lo feet of the top. .'\nd on his way down 

 he cuts away the branch js, thus cleaning the stem. The 



