338 JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



from 30 to 40 million dollars' worth of lumber is not likely to be over- 

 stocked with timber. As a matter of fact, of the 23 million acres of 

 forest in France only 25 per cent is what is called timber forest; the- 

 rest is coppice, good for fuel and small dimension, though about one- 

 half of this contains also dimension timber (standards). Now, the 

 bulk of the timber forest is in government hands, and the government 

 practices a "sustained-yield" management. The cautious French, in. 

 addition to having all the age classes needed for such a management, 

 are conservative and leave 25 per cent of what they would be entitled' 

 to cut vmder this management as a reserve against an evil day, such as 

 fires, insects, windfalls, or perhaps war may bring. It is this reserve 

 that has fallen under American and Canadian axes, and, in addition, 

 the older age classes below the 100 or 120 years, perhaps down to 80 

 or even 60 years, which can be made useful. In a special case, in which 

 the mill was run by one of our professors in the forestry battalions, he 

 ascertained that they were anticipating the cut of 20 years, and, more- 

 over, most of the cut was fuel wood. The sustained-yield management 

 is badly crippled in all French forests by these anticipated harvests.. 

 The expectation of the writer that home supplies will suffice for recon- 

 struction purposes is probably a futile guess. 



A writer in the Revue dcs Bans ct Forets (1918, p. 244) discusses 

 what has become of the pineries of France, which are mostly the result 

 of planting up waste lands (some 2 million acres) in the following 

 language : 



"The irreparable damage caused (by the clear cutting) in our pineries has 

 ruined for a long time the effort and work of two or three generations, and in 

 any case has created a disquieting situation for the future. . . . The realiz- 

 able, accessible timber has been cut. The requirements still necessary to satisfy 

 will take the younger stands which have not yet fulfilled their role." 



Future of Cut-over Pulpwood Lands in Quebec 



During the summer of 1918 Dr. C. D. Howe, for the Canadian Com- 

 mission of Conservation and in co-operation with the Riordon Pulp' 

 and Paper Company, began an investigation into the conditions of 

 some of their cut-over limits. On some 130 acres of sample areas in 

 five forest types, lightly, moderately, and severely culled of spruce and 

 balsam, careful count of the remaining smaller growth of these species 

 was made and tabulated in three diameter classes, namely, 12 inch and 

 over, 8 to II inch, and 4 to 7 inch. The legal diameter limit being 12 

 inch, the next cut would come from the 8-inch trees in 30 years, ac- 

 cording to the ascertained growth rate. 



