NEW VALUATION OF UNBUILT ON LAND II7 



When these averages are compared, we do not find extraordinary differ- 

 ences. The first region, indeed, shows the highest averages for arable land 

 and meadows, a consequence of the quite exceptional prosperity it 

 enjoys, owing to the nature of its soil, its temperate climate, its dense 

 population and easy means of communication. The averages, while still 

 high, fall progressively in the second and third regions, both very famous Uve- 

 stock improvement districts, the soil of which is also very fertile, but which 

 are at a greater distance from Paris and are less well provided with railways. 

 The averages for arable land and meadows are lower in the fourth, fifth and 

 sixth regions ; but the differences in the averages for these regions are not 

 very appreciable. It will be remarked that the average for arable land is 

 again higher in the seventh region, which includes the Rhone valley, but 

 that for the meadows still falls, as in this region they are chiefly mountain 

 pastures, the revenue from which is smaU. The eighth region has a larger 

 area of arable land of inferior quality : this is why we find there the minim- 

 tun average rental value for this type of. farms ; on the other hand, it 

 has a very large number of good meadows, especially in the valley of the 

 Meuse, and so the average for meadows rises. The ninth region, con- 

 sisting partly of mountain land and partly of plains, occupies an intermed- 

 iate position and in it the averages both for arable land and meadows 

 are nearly the same as the general averages for the whole of France. Finally, 

 the average rental values again fall in the 1 enth region, of which a consider- 

 able part, the plains of Berry and Sologne, is Uttle productive, and they 

 fall even more in the nth region, composed of departments of compar- 

 atively small population, where the soil is often sterile, and communication 

 is difficult. 



Ivike that of arable land and meadows and for similar reasons, the aver- 

 age value of woodlands is very high in the first three regions, whilst it 

 falls appreciably in the fourth. In the fifth there are many thriving plant- 

 tations of maritime pines, along the shores of the Bay of Biscay, but, as it 

 also includes the greater part of the Pyrenees, covered with forests, the 

 exploitation of which is very difficult and httle remunerative, the average 

 only rises shghtly. It reaches its minimum in the sixth region, owing 

 to the fall in value of the principal kinds of trees of the district : ever- 

 green oak, the bark of which, formerly, used in the tanneries, is now much 

 less in demand, and chestnut trees, formerly cultivated, because barrel 

 hoops were made from the wood and now more and more neglected since 

 iron has been employed for the purpose. But in proportion as we go north 

 we find the average rising rapidly ; the rise, already very marked in the 

 seventh region is especially noticeable in the eighth where there are many 

 fine forests of fohous and resinous trees. Finally, while less important from 

 the point of view of forestry, the regions of the centre have also fine forests, 

 with an average value equivalent to the general average for France, in the 

 ninth and tenth regions, and falling a little below this a\'erage in the 

 eleventh region, the economic conditions of which, as alread}' shown, are 

 unfavourable. 



