136 FRANCE - MISCEIXA>re;OUS 



their appearance in the vineyards (Blackrot, mildew, oidium etc), and when 

 they do not kill the plants, they reduce the quantity or deteriorate the 

 quality of the wine and in every case call for treatment constituting^ very 

 heavy charge. On the other hand, the increasing cost of labour is quite 

 especially felt by the wine farmers as their farms have constant need of 

 labourers and the employment of agricultural machinery is nearly imposs- 

 ible. Finally, in the years immediately preceding the last valuation, the 

 value of the vineyards had been very considerably reduced, first on account 

 of the low prices for wine, and then of bad harvests. These various cir- 

 cumstances, of which account had to be taken for the valuation of 1908, 

 explain the fall in the average value of the vineyards; they have afiected the 

 market price more than the rental value, owing to the uncertain life of this 

 kind of farm and its irregular yield. 



In spite of this, the average rental value of the group was still in 1908 

 higher than in 185 1 and the market price was almost the same as before. 



(e) Woodland belonging to Private Owners and to Incorporated Bodies and 

 not to the State. — The average value of wooded holdings, which had risen 

 slightly in 1879, fell in 1908 to a Uttle below what it was in 185 1, as the 

 following table shows : 



Valuation of 



Average Rental Value per ha 



" Market Price " " 624 745 573 



Like the other kinds of holdings, the woodlands showed in 1879 an in- 

 crease of value due to the vogue enjoyed by landed property at that date 

 and to the new facilities of transport provided by the building of numerous 

 railways. This increase of value was observed in all departments, except 

 for unimportant decreases of rental value in 12 and of market price in ii. 



Since 1879, the crisis affecting landed property in general has not 

 spared the wooded land. To tell the truth, it has affected the forests, 

 above all the resinous forests, only slightly. 



But the copsewoods have suffered considerably. Their produce, which 

 finds competitors in coal , and gas both for industrial purposes and home 

 use, has depreciated considerably, above all in the coal mining districts ; 

 again, the use of the bark in tanneries has been gradually substit- 

 uted by that of chemical preparations. The revenue from the copse- 

 woods has therefore fallen off and the reduction of the profits co-inciding with 

 the rise in wages, the revenue in some cases has been reduced to almost no- 

 thing. This explains why, in spite of the still considerable value of the 

 forests, the average values for woodland had declined considerably in 1908. 

 We must, further, add that the new plantations, very numerous within the 

 last few years, for which poor soil was largely utilised, (moor land, abandoned 

 vineyards and arable land etc.), have generally only given copsewood of 

 inferior quaHty, the low value of which contributes still further to reduce 

 the averages. 



