comrERsiON methods— a visit to the forests of 



CHAUX AND FAYE DE LA MONTROND, FRANCE 

 By H. R. MacMillan^ 



The period of the war is obviously an unsuitable time to visit 

 French forests. All the staff coming within the very elastic limits 

 of military age went on duty at the front at the first outbreak of 

 war. Even many of those too old for active military service were 

 withdrawn from the forest administration to look after transport^ 

 supplies and other military necessities. The forests are now in 

 charge of the few men unfit for military service, strengthened by 

 the old guard who have returned from the enjoyment of their 

 pensions. The staff in one conservancy, which consisted in peace 

 times of 20 inspectors had been reduced to 2 inspectors, both 

 well over military age, the guards and subordinate employees 

 had also been reduced by over 90 per cent. Work in the forests 

 is at an absolute standstill; working plans are postponed, except- 

 ing where fuel, the work of old men, women and boys, is taken for 

 domestic or industrial purposes, or where the needs of war, which 

 are varied and vast beyond conception, are concentrated on 

 certain forests. 



The forest of Chaux is an area of 49,400 acres on the plains east 

 of the Jura mountains. So far as history shows, it has never been 

 otherwise than forest, owned by the royal family or by the State. 

 The name even has remained imchanged for over 700 years. 



The coppice stand consists of 50 per cent oak, 20 per cent Blue 

 beech, 10 per cent beech, 10 per cent birch, and 10 per cent alder 

 and poplar. The standards are oak 90 per cent, beech 10 per 

 cent. This forest, an island of inferior soil situated in an agricul- 

 tural commimity, though far from being one of the show forests of 

 France, is an excellent example of what forest care should accom- 

 plish on similar small, non-agricultural tracts in the more densely 

 settled and industrial regions of Ontario or Quebec. The task 

 was, however, rendered more easy in France than it will be in 

 Canada, by the fact that such non-agricultural areas as Chaux, 

 though they might pass from crown to abbey or noble family, 

 were never broken into small holdings under many ownerships. 



^Lately Chief, Forest Branch, British Columbia. 



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