SOME ASPECTS OF EUROPEAN FORESTRY. 



By a. B. RecknageIv. 



V. Management oe Hardwoods in Eastern France 



The rolling plateaus of Lorraine and Franche-Comte are cov- 

 ered with fine hardwood forests; Oak (both Quercus peduncu- 

 lata and Quercus robur) and beech are the principal constituents, 

 with them occur ash, elm, linden, birch, hornbeam, willow, aspen, 

 etc., giving variety to the stand. 



The plateaus of Eastern France vary in elevation from some 

 700 feet to 1,300 feet, above sea level. They are the result of 

 much erosion as the deep valleys of the dissecting rivers bear 

 witness. The soil is, almost universally, a heavy wet loam of 

 no great depth; it is not a site especially favorable to tree 

 growth, particularly where the impenetrable bed rock is close 

 to the surface. 



The climate is typically "continental," that is, the winters, while 

 irregular, are usually long and cold; the summers characterized 

 by periods of drought. Frosts frequently occur even in late 

 spring. The rainfall and snowfall are more than abundant, to- 

 gether averaging from about 23 to 30 inches a year; but the 

 precipitation is not well distributed through the months. 



Thus the conditions of tree growth encountered in Eastern 

 France are by no means optimum; the greater credit is there- 

 fore due the French foresters for the excellent results ac- 

 complished. Up to the early part of the nineteenth century prac- 

 tically all the hardwood forests of Eastern France were managed 

 either as pure coppice (TailHs) or as coppice under standards 

 (Taillis sous futaie). The coppice rotation was often incredibly 

 short (eight years for one forest near Nancy) but ordinarily 

 varied between 25 and 40 years, while the age of the standards 

 was usually some multiple of the coppice rotation and seldom 

 reached 160 years. 



Many of the private and commercial forests are still managed 

 under this system, as indeed are also the poorer areas of the 

 State forests or those whose conversion into high forest has 



