FORESTRY IN FRANCE. 253 
law also prohibits the erection, without permission, of brick-works 
or lime kilns, carpenters’ shops, timber-yards, or sawmills, within 
certain distances of the forest. At the time that the law was 
passed, it was much more necessary than it is at present to check 
the erection of such buildings, and applications for permission to 
construct them are now usually accorded on suitable conditions. 
Insurtes CausED BY WILD ANIMALS AND Insects, StToRMS 
AND FIREs. 
Wild Animals and Insects.—The principal wild animals which 
cause injury to the forests, either by devouring the seed or the 
young seedlings, or by peeling the bark off the young plants, are deer, 
pigs, hares, and rabbits. The insects which attack the leaves, the 
bark, and even the wood of the trees, belong chiefly to the families 
Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, and Hymenoptera. But the damage done 
is not excessive, and it is, in fact, far less than that produced by the 
same causes in many other countries. It is of course exceedingly 
difficult to put a money value upon injuries of this sort, which in- 
clude not only the actual death of a certain number of old and 
young trees, but also a reduction in the rate of growth of others. 
An estimate was, however, made regarding the damage done in 
1876, and it is said to have amounted to about 4s. per 100 acres, 
taken on the entire area of the State and communal forests. The 
coniferous trees generally suffer more than the broad-leaved species, 
as they are more exposed to the attacks of insects, which not in- 
frequently kill them outright, whereas the latter species more often 
suffer merely a diminution in their rate of increase. 
Storms.—The damage done by storms of wind is a much more 
serious matter. Injuries are caused to the forest by them, which it is 
not always possible, either to prevent, or even to modify. In the 
first place, the windfalls interfere with the arrangements laid down 
in the working plan, and the considerations which guide the 
execution of the fellings are thus thrown out; they remove too 
large a proportion of the seed-bearing trees, and consequently it is 
sometimes necessary to substitute a difficult and costly artificial 
process for the natural regeneration, which would otherwise have 
been effected ; while, in addition to this, they break, or otherwise 
damage, neighbouring trees by their fall. In the second place, 
the value of the windfalls themselves is, speaking generally, 
small, as they are frequently broken or otherwise injured, while 
