FORESTRY IN FRANCE. 249 
the framing of the working plans. As a general rule, the arrange- 
ment with the right-holders is made by mutual consent, appeals to 
the Courts being of rare occurrence. The State is in no hurry to 
spend large sums in the purchase of grazing-rights, which will pro- 
bably disappear with the progress of agriculture; a result which 
has already been realised in the north of France, where the greater 
portion of these rights has lapsed through failure to exercise them. 
GRAZING. 
Goats, sheep, and cattle have always been the enemies of forests, 
and they are indeed the principal agents of their destruction, 
especially in hot and dry climates, where the vegetation is not 
sufficiently vigorous to resist the effects of over-grazing. 
Animals are admitted to the forests under three different con- 
ditions, viz. :— 
(a.) In virtue of a right of user. 
(d.) As a means of raising revenue, and of utilising the grass, 
(c.) By tolerance, as a temporary arrangement. 
Grazing by Right.—This has been treated of in the preceding 
section. 
Grazing as a means of Revenue and of utilising the Grass.— 
Neither goats nor sheep are admitted into the State or communal 
forests with this object. In the State forests it is sometimes the 
custom to allow cottagers living near the forest to graze their cattle 
in exchange for a number of days’ work, but this is not done to any 
important extent. In these forests, in fact, very little grazing is 
sold, for the practice can only be permitted in the unwooded 
portions, which are rarely available for the purpose, because, although 
they are of considerable extent (about 450 square miles), they are 
either required as grazing grounds for the cattle of right-holders, or 
they are being planted up, and hence the revenue from this source 
is insignificant. It was only £360 during the last year for which 
the record is available. But it is otherwise in the case of the 
communal forests, where local custom often necessitates the main- 
tenance as pasture land of blanks, which could otherwise be most 
advantageously filled up; and some communes derive almost 
their entire revenue from this source. The receipts by them 
amounted in the same year to nearly £15,000. 
Grazing by tolerance.—It has been said that no right can exist 
to graze either goats or sheep in the State or communal forests ; 
