$20,000,000 YEARLY FROM ONE FOREST 



^^^HE Forest of Campiegne, France, 

 ^^ )though a realm of beauty and en- 

 ^^^chantment to its lovers, is yet 

 made by the State to yield an annual 

 income of one hundred million francs 

 ($20,000,000), writes Lillie Hamilton 

 French in the September Century. For 

 this purpose it appoints seven brigadiers 

 and twenty-seven gardes-forestiers be- 

 sides several gardes-cantonniers . The 

 cantonniers look after the roads, the 

 guards protect the rights rented to the 

 sportsman and wood-cutter — the two 

 great clients from whom these revenues 

 are derived — two hundred thousand 

 francs a year being paid by the sports- 

 man and eight hundred thousand francs 

 by the wood-merchant. The guards 

 must also see that these two groups ot 

 clients never encroach on each other's 

 rights, for though the sportsman may 

 hunt on the wood-merchant's land, he 

 cannot carry from it a splinter of green 

 wood ; while the wood-merchant would 

 have a suit brought against him if he 

 were to pocket so much as a rabbit 

 found burrowing under one of his dear- 

 ly purchased trees. And some of these 

 trunks are dear, one of oak frequently 

 costing him a thousand francs. 



So far as the question of revenue is 

 concerned, la chasse is made to desig- 

 nate every right, whether of fishing or 



hunting, which is rented to the sports- 

 man. As a diversion, however, it means 

 to its votaries two distinct kinds of 

 hunting, the most important and pic- 

 turesque being the chasse a courre, or 

 hunt by pursuit, and in whatever direc- 

 tion the stag may lead. This takes place 

 twice a week after the cold has set in. 

 and always on horseback, with a follow- 

 ing of hounds. This chasse a courre is 

 never rented except to a single person 

 and usually for six years, at an annual 

 rate of 17,300 francs ($3,4G0). When 

 the lessee is frugal, as he occasionally 

 is, he sublets it. 



On the other hand, the chasse a tir 

 or hunt with fowling-pieces, is divided 

 into twenty-five "lots," and rented for 

 various prices from twenty francs or 

 more, and includes the right to shoot, 

 within certain limits, hare, rabbits, doe. 

 pheasants, and wild birds. The open- 

 ing and closing of the chasse is decided 

 every year by the prefet, as our 

 Thanksgiving day is by our President 

 though it is generally on the last Sun- 

 day of August that one hears the re- 

 port of the first authorized gun. The 

 event is one of almost national import- 

 ance, chronicled by every newspaper in 

 the land, and discussed by every 

 Frenchman, high or low, rich or poor. 



OLDEST LIVING THINGS 



y^L^HE oldest living things in the 

 C^)world are the sequoia trees in the 

 ^^^ General Grant and Sequoia Na- 

 tional Parks, California. The Forest 

 Service recently issued a bulletin telling 

 all about them and how to get to them 

 These trees are also the tallest treer^ 

 known. Within the two parks there 

 are thirteen groves containing over 12,- 



000 trees larger than ten feet in diam- 

 eter. 



It is estimated that some of these 

 trees were growing 4,000 years ago. In 

 fact, annual wood rings have been 

 counted on one of the fallen giants in 

 the Sequoia Park showing that it had 

 reached that age. 



The great pines of the Pacific coast, 



597 



