108 transactions op royal scottish arboricultural society. 



Of the Damages Done to the Forests. 



There is no appreciable damage done by animals or insects in 

 the State forests; on the other hand, however, the damage done 

 by fire and by wind is very considerable. One tempest of wind 

 alone uprooted 41,967 trees in the mountain ranges in 1886. 

 Fires are even more destructive, and necessitate special pre- 

 cautions. Observatories are erected to watch the outbreak and 

 trend of these, and the forests themselves are as far as possible safe- 

 guarded by wide fire-trenches, which divide them into blocks. When 

 a fire breaks out, the mayors have the power to requisition work- 

 men and tools in order to make counter fires, recusants being 

 punishable by fine. As to the causes of fires, these are often 

 owing, as in our own country, to sparks from engines, but more 

 frequently to the grass fires, raised in spring to induce a growth 

 of fresh herbage, but which frequently get out of control. This 

 cause of forest fires is unfortunately too well known in all hot 

 countries, and many a fine forest has succumbed to the ravages of 

 what was intended to be merely a local grass fire. 



Of the Introduction of Cattle and Rights op Grazing. 



According to Article 112 of the Forest Code, the ingress of 

 cattle and sheep is permitted in nearly all the forests of the 

 Department, " licences " being granted by the municipalities, and 

 the receipts brought into the municipal treasuries. Except in 

 times of drought and scarcity of outside pasturage, this would 

 appear to be a measure of doubtful utility. The number of 

 sheep ostensibly admitted to the mountain forests is about four 

 per hectare. The word "ostensibly" is here used, for the returns 

 are not accurately made. The mountaineers, who enjoy rights of 

 firewood and of timber for the repair of their cabins, make false 

 returns of the number of their flocks, and claim rights of free 

 grazing. Detection is not easy, and the result of judgments, even 

 when obtained, is not satisfactory. 



Resume. 



It is not possible to consider the Forest Department in this 

 part of France as a revenue-producing branch of the State. 

 Although in the abstract the forests cover one-fifth of the whole 

 area of the province, the exigencies of agriculture on the plains, 



