Periodical Literature. 439 



cutting, no protective forest is kept in good condition. It is de- 

 cidedly needful to cut all that is mature. Overmature stands and 

 members of stands are for protective purposes undesirable, as 

 these forests clearly show. The old firs and beeches are rotten, 

 break down in storms, and make undesirable openings. Repro- 

 duction, young growths in good condition, furnish the best pro- 

 tection. 



Mitteilungen iiber forstliche Verh'dltnisse in Frankreich. Forstwissen- 

 schatfliches Centralblatt. July, August, 1909. Pp. 375-386; 421-433. 



The latest statistics (1905) give the follow- 

 Timber ing ownership classification of forest land 



Famine in France: State, 2,881,070 acres; com- 



in munal and institutional 4,844,310 acres, pri- 



France. vate, 15,000,000 acres. Eighteen per cent, 



of the State and 3.6 per cent, of the com- 

 munal and institutional forest land is considered unproductive, 

 the reason for the former high figure being that the State delib- 

 erately buys up denuded land for reforestation. 



Thus only some seven and one-half million acres is forest under 

 government control. The State forests are of course under abso- 

 lute control, but in the communal and institutional forests the 

 supervision is less effective, while in the case of the fifteen million 

 acres of private woodland the restrictions of the law of 1859 na "V' e 

 been so poorly enforced that they are seriously exhausted. 



Statistics show the financial return per acre to be much higher 

 on the State forests than in those belonging to communes and 

 institutions. This is to be explained not alone on the ground of 

 more able management, but also because the products include a 

 higher percentage of larger sizes — in other words, there is less 

 depletion in the State forests. In the case of privately owned 

 forests this depletion has gone still farther, and it is becoming 

 more and more difficult to obtain high grade lumber. At the 

 present time, France can meet her own needs only in firewood, 

 ties, poles, posts, etc. ; the higher grades of lumber and timber 

 must be imported, so that to-day this country ranks third in wood 

 imports among European countries. 



In consequence of this condition of affairs the French govern- 

 ment is not only busy reforesting, but has in preparation a new 

 law to encourage reforestation, which will also impose more re- 



