FOREST SITUATION IN FRANCE 537 



to continue cutting in advance of normal until the most pressing needs 

 have been met, when such recuperation as is called for can be com- 

 menced. In spite of such pressure there is no likelihood of dangerous 

 overcutting under the present control. In this connection it is interest- 

 ing to note that the French Forest Service has prepared to meet the 

 changed conditions and heavy tasks that confront it by a reorganiza- 

 tion of personnel. The objects are to secure more decentralization, 

 less paper work, and greater efficiency, so that the present force, greatly 

 reduced by the war, can handle the necessary work. Increases over pre- 

 war salaries are also included in the plan. 



The problem of improving the condition of private forests is serious 

 but by no means hopeless. It pays to grow timber at French stumpage 

 prices. The forests that are still in good shape are owned by wealthy 

 and conservative citizens who can be counted on to exploit the normal 

 production only. Much of the money reaped from the depletion of 

 the others is in the hands of their present owners who can thus afford 

 to protect and build up the stand without expecting much additional 

 revenue for some time. Some of them will doubtless adopt this policy. 

 Other forests which fell into the hands of speculators and were passed 

 on to new owners are less likely to have a good chance of recuperation. 

 It is impossible to avoid bringing a forest into some measure of pro- 

 ductivity to meet carrying charges, since in France an owner is not 

 allowed to pull up the stumps and convert the land to other uses with- 

 out showing to the satisfaction of the Minister of Agriculture that the 

 public interests will not suffer thereby. Experience has shown, how- 

 ever, that this necessity is not sufficint to insure far-sighted manage- 

 ment of timbered property. Financial exigencies of the owner, slow- 

 ness in the realization of returns from planting or other improvement, 

 forced partition among heirs when the owner dies and consequent 

 overturning of working plans, are among the causes which have always 

 led to the bad handling of private forests regardless of war conditions. 



French foresters were dissatisfied with the status of private forestry 

 before the war. The chief trouble was that private enterprise did 

 not produce enough timber of good size to meet the demand. The 

 effort to improve conditions that was then being made will be resumed. 

 France's present financial condition precludes measures involving the 

 expenditure of public funds on a large scale. This will prevent for the 

 present the purchase of private properties to increase the area of State 

 forest, a measure which is regarded as desirable in spite of the large 



