STATE AND OTHER FORESTS OF FRANCE. 87 



beech. Including the dense pole-woods of planted spruce, the 

 crop is very flourishing, and contains on the average 4550 cubic 

 feet per acre, solid measure (3550 cubic feet measured by 

 quarter-girth). One compartment contains 8316 cubic feet 

 (6534 cubic feet quarter-girth) per acre. This forest was greatly 

 damaged by a storm in February 1902, and is now suffering 

 from an attack of bark-beetles {Bostrychus typographus), which 

 have spread, owing to the quantity of broken wood there has 

 been in the forest since this storm. 



System of Management. 



The forest is divided into four working-sections of high forest, 

 near the town. Three working-sections are managed according 

 to the shelter-wood compartment system, with a rotation of 140 

 years; the fourth working-section, 219 acres, forms a pleasure- 

 ground for the town, and here only dead and dying trees are 

 felled. 



Yield. 



The estimated yield of the first three sections is as follows : — 



Section I., 67 cubic feet per acre annually. 

 Section II., 84 ,, „ 



Section III., 85 „ „ 



The total estimated annual yield of the three sections is 175,000 

 cubic feet. 



THE STATE FOREST. 



Area and Relief. 



The State Forest of Gerardmer contains 11,897 acres, and is 

 situated on the western slopes of the Hohneck, and on some 

 detached portions of that mountain. There are slopes in the 

 forest in all directions, some of which are very steep, and the 

 altitude varies from 1950 to 4000 feet above sea-level. 



Crop. 



The crop consists of 50 per cent, silver fir, 25 per cent, spruce, 

 and 25 per cent, beech, each species occurring either mixed 

 with the others or as a pure crop. 



Beech predominates at the high altitudes, increasing in im- 

 portance as we ascend, and near the top of the Hohneck pure 



