FRENCH FIR ^lANAGEMENT IX THE VOSGES ^ 



(Translation) 



Bv T. S. WooLSEY, Jr. 



The various methods of treatment applied to silver-fir stands may- 

 take the form of one of the following two systems: (i) Regular high 

 forest; (2) selection high forest. These two systems or methods of 

 management . . . have each their adherents and opponents. . . . 

 Some believe . . . that the regular forest may be more or less re- 

 munerative for its owner than the selection forest. . . . Certain 

 purely theoretical reasons seem to prove that the selection forest pro- 

 duces more than the regular forest ; but to these reasons numerous 

 examples of regular stands of artificial origin can be opposed that have 

 yielded more than 20 cubic meters per hectare (280 cubic feet per 

 acre) per year. Under these circumstances, as iMelard has so accu- 

 rately said, "Don't make any sacrifices to chance methods, but take the 

 stands as they are and try to make the most of them." The treatment 

 proposed in this study has exactly that aim. of making the best of exist- 

 ing stands without any preconceived idea of regular or selection high 

 forest. The basis upon which the exploitable size is fixed being the 

 money yield, the treatment here presented should apply to fir stands 

 belonging to private owners. Those which belong to the State, com- 

 munes, or public institutions, by the mere fact of being technically ad- 

 ministered, are managed by a great service wiiich has advised (in order 

 to improve these forests ) a method conceived under the broadest i>olicy. 

 With this method one can (almost at leisure ) work the high forest 

 either as a more or less regular one or else turn it into a selection stand. 

 Concisely, the operations comprised are : (General stock-taking over the 

 entire forest; fixing the exploitable size, determining length of rota- 

 tion, and felling cycle; classification of the growing stock in three 



^ Le Traitemeiit des Sap'trieres base sttr la .\otioii d'Es/^aci'iiiciit dcs Tiges, A. 

 Gazin. Imprimerie (ienoral Laluirc, 9 Rue de Fleurus, Paris. IQOJ. 



This little classic was published after havintj been received favorably by the 

 members of the Societe Forestiere de Franche-Comte ct Bel fort in igoi. Gazin 

 is one of the best-known foresters in France. He is a K^'idiiate of the National 

 Forest School at Xancy, and reached the rank of inspector (l'".)rest Supervisor^ 

 in the Service des I'"aux et I'orets, where he rendered distiniiuished service. 

 When the translator met him in 1913 he was forest administrator for the Duke 

 of Penthievc, at .\rc-F.n-Harrois. The translation will ijive the American jiro- 

 fession ideas which mav be followed in the United States. 



