FORESTRY IN FRANCE. 255 
the regeneration of the crop of trees; and in 1870, a special law 
was passed, prohibiting the proprietors of those districts from light- 
ing fires in their forests, except at seasons fixed by the Prefect; and 
also compelling them to clear fire-lines round all woods and forests 
which have not been completely freed from all inflammable shrubs. 
In 1876 there were 290 fires in the area managed by the Forest 
Department, nearly all of them being the result of accident. The 
surface burnt over measured 2350 acres, or about =j)59 part of the 
entire area, and the damaged was estimated at £3280, or 28s. 
per acre of forest burnt. The proportion of fires was greater in the 
broad-leaved than in the coniferous forests ; but, on the other hand, 
the amount of damage done per acre in the latter, was three times 
as great as that in the former, the resin in the trees themselves, and 
in the dead needles on the ground, rendering the fir and pine forests 
excessively inflammable. It is also worthy of remark that, although, 
as a general rule, fires were of more frequent occurrence in the 
spring than at any other season of the year, the autumn fires were, 
on account of the recently fallen leaves, by far the most destructive. 
But this is by no means true of all regions, and the general result 
may be mainly ascribed to the great damage done by fires occurring 
during the autumn in the south of France. In the north, forest 
fires are of small importance, and occasion little damage. 
HUNTING AND SHOOTING. 
The right to hunt and shoot in the State forests is, generally speak- 
ing, let out on nine years’ leases, which are sold by public auction 
under the rules for the sale of timber and other forest produce ; 
but when this is not possible, it is sold by means of annual permits 
issued under the direct authority of the Minister of Agriculture, the 
sport being always carried on under the surveillance of the officers 
of the Forest Departmeut. No forest officer can become a lessee of 
the shooting within the limits of his own charge, and forest guards 
are never permitted to shoot in the forests under any circumstances. 
The municipal councils are, subject to the approval of the Prefect, 
free to dispose of the right to hunt or shoot in their forests in any 
manner that they wish. 
DESTRUCTION OF WOLVES. 
The destruction of wolves, boars, and other animals which are 
considered dangerous or harmful, is entrusted to a corps of 410 
