March, 1920] FORESTRY 85 



583. Viardin, L. L'organisation forestiere, avant 1789, dans la Lorraine reconquise. 

 [Forest organization in reconquered Lorraine prior to 1789. | Rev. Eaux et Forfltfl 57:80-85. 

 1919. — The first representative of the forest hierarchy in Lorraine was the griiyer (a lord hav- 

 ing a right on the woods <>f his vassals), who is referred to is public documents as early as the 

 first half of the fourteenth century. On April JO, 1464, the office of grand gruyer of Lorraine 

 was established under which were a number of individual gruyera. The latter, assisted 

 by a conlrSlcur, acted both as a forest administrator and forest accountant, designating 

 the timber to be cut, receiving receipts, and collecting fines resulting from trespasses. 

 Following the French occupation in 1681, Louis XIV abolished the grueries and the Maitrise 

 royalc of Mctz became the headquarters of forest administration in Lorraine, while; in 1G8G the 

 Duchies of Lorraine and Bar were divided into 13 individual maitrises. The conlrdleurs of 

 the former grueries were replaced by special receveurs charged exclusively with collecting the 

 returns from the forest. With the end of the French occupation, this organization was in 

 turn abolished by Duke Leopold who reestablished the grueries while retaining the special 

 receveurs. The former, relieved of their accounting duties by the receveurs, frequently added 

 the duty of provost to their other duties. In 1701, the duchieswere divided into five forest 

 departments, each in charge of a commissaire riformateur, to which a sixth was added in 1720. 

 These corrimissaires reformaleurs constituted a special chamber in charge of all questions 

 relating to the management of the forests, including cuttings, clearings, and the exercise of 

 rights of user. In 1720, this chamber was joined with the Council of Finances to form the 

 Council of Finances and of Waters and Forests. In 1727, the commissaires riformateur s were 

 given the title of grands gruyers. From the coming of Stanislas in 1737, it was the Council of 

 Finance and Commerce which exercised complete authority in all forest questions. In reality 

 however, the Council was controlled in forest matters by Paul-Francois Gallois, who after, 

 some difficulty succeeded in substituting the French system of maitrises for the former grueries. 

 The reorganization was completed in 1747 when Lorraine and Barrois were divided into 15 

 maitrises. Each of these was in charge of a maitre, who was generally assisted by a lieutenant, 

 an agent of the king (who was concerned particularly in controlling rights of user), a hammer 

 keeper, a surveyor, a clerk, and from 1 to 10 bailiffs. These offices were all purchasable and 

 all hereditary. On the death of Stanislas in 1766, Lorraine was reunited to France, and be- 

 came the nineteenth department of forests and waters, and in 17S9 on the death of Claude- 

 Nicolas Mathieu, who had been grand maitre of Waters and Forests in the Duchies of Lorraine 

 and Bar, that office was discontinued. — S. T. Dana. 



584. Weir, James R., and Ernest E. Hubert. The influence of thinning on western 

 hemlock and grand fir infected with Echinodontium tinctorium. Jour. Forestry 17:21-35. 

 1919. — Five plots aggregating 9.5 acres were laid out in the Priest River Valley, in Idaho, on 

 potential timber land. The area was cut over in 1900 and 1902, and 57 hemlocks (Tsuga het- 

 ero-phulla} and 375 grand firs (Abies grandis) were growing in 1915. Following the cutting 

 there was a decrease in the rate of diameter growth, due to opening the stand, followed by a 

 decided increase in which hemlock took more part than did grand fir. With hemlock a marked 

 second growth of the old crown took place, while with fir a secondary crown appeared on the 

 lower trunk, in some cases extending nearly to the ground. The crown size of the trees in the 

 cut-over area averaged 185 per cent greater than that of those of the virgin stand. The mean 

 annual diameter growth on the cut-over area was found to be 143 per cent greater for hemlock 

 and 176 per cent greater for grand fir, than was the case with the same species on the uncut 

 area. While the injuries caused by logging were severe, there was a greater proportion of 

 healed wounds on the cut-over area than on the uncut area. In general a less favorable set of 

 conditions for fungous, activity existed on the cut-over area; the total numbers of infected 

 trees, of sporophores, and of sporophore-bearing trees, on the cut were less than on the uncut 

 area. This is probably due to the removal of the infected trees on the former area. The 

 thinning exerts a restrictive influence on Echinodontium tinctorium, due to better growing 

 conditions for the trees, increased light and amelioration of stagnant-air conditions. — E. N. 

 Mu tins. 



BOTANICAL ABSTRACTS. VOL. Ill, NO. 3 



