STATE AND OTHER FORESTS OF FRANCE. lOI 



are sands of the Lower Cretaceous system (Cdnomanien), termed 

 Sables du Perche. The loam forms a deep soil, often fertile, but 

 sometimes full of flints. The sand is ferruginous, yellow, and 

 very deep. Below the sand, in the country near the forest, are 

 hills formed of Oolitic rock, on one of which the town of Mortagne 

 is situated. 



Climate. 



The mean temperature is 48° F., somewhat lower than that of 

 London, and the winter cold is moderate, the average minimum 

 being about 10° F. The mean summer maximum is Zii" F. 

 Spring frosts are to be feared till the middle of May. The 

 rainfall is fairly heavy, averaging 38 inches, and is uniformly 

 distributed. 



History. 



The Forest of Belleme has belonged to the Crown of France 

 since the fifteenth century, before which it belonged to the Counts 

 of Le Perche. It has several times formed an appanage of 

 French princes; the last concession was to the Due d'Alen^on, 

 brother of Louis XVL, who became King of France, as 

 Louis XVIIL, after the abdication of Napoleon. The Due 

 d'Alen^on subjected the forest to the following treatment, after 

 its having been since 1660 managed under the system known as 

 Tir et Aire (successive clear-cuttings, with reservation of eight 

 standards per acre, and a rotation of 150 years, no thinnings 

 being allowed) : — 



In the first and fourth working-sections, high forest, with a 

 rotation of 99 years. In the second and third working-sections, 

 coppice-with-standards, with a rotation of 33 years. The Revolu- 

 tion luckily prevented this from being carried out, except that a 

 commencement was made to ruin the forest. 



Under the Republic and subsequently, the Tir et Aire system 

 was resumed, until 1825, when the Systeme de reensemencement 

 naturel avec des eclaircies was introduced, corresponding to what 

 is known to some as the " shelter-wood compartment system." ^ 



The presence of a few of the old standards from the Tir et 

 Aire gives some of the woods the appearance of a two-storied 

 high forest. 



^ Natural regeneration under parent trees seems much preferable. — HON. Ed. 



