FORESTRY IN FRANCE. 
Lo 
4 
= 
CERIARPT ER, Vil. 
THe Private Woops anpD Forests oF FRANCE. 
Those woods and forests which are neither State nor com- 
munal property, belong principally to private proprietors, of whom 
the number is very great, but also partly to civil, religious, 
commercial, and other societies. Their extent varies of course 
from year to year, according as clearances are made for cul- 
tivation, or planting work is undertaken. No very exact record 
of the area is available, but the latest figures show it to be 
23,657 square miles, or about two-thirds of the total wooded 
surface of France. It is probable that, at the present time, the 
private woodlands are being somewhat added to, rather than 
reduced, for it is believed that the areas annually planted up or 
sown, exceed in extent those which are cleared. The private 
forests are not entirely free from State control; while, at the same 
time, they are protected by the legislation almost in the same 
manner, and to the same extent, as are the State and communal 
forests. For instance, private owners, in common with the 
Government and the communes, enjoy the power to free their 
forests from wood rights, by making over a portion of the ground 
to the right-holders in lieu thereof ; grazing rights can only be 
exercised in those parts of them which are declared by the Forest 
Department to be out of danger from the entrance of cattle, and the 
number of animals can be limited with reference to the supply of 
grass, while no right ‘can exist to graze sheep or goats in them. 
Owners have also the power to free their forests of all rights, 
except those of wood, by the payment of compensation 3 and, 
speaking generally, it may be said that they have the same pro- 
tection against injury to their property by right-holders, as is 
enjoyed by the State and the communes, The law also places them 
in the same position as regards the punishment of forest offences, 
including trespass by persons carrying cutting tools, cattle trespass, 
and the lighting or carrying of fire in or near the forests, with 
a claim to damages for injury caused. Proprietors can obtain for 
their forest guards, if they have them regularly sworn in, the 
same powers for the protection of their property, as are exercised 
by the State and the communal guards. 
On the other hand, private owners cannot cut down and clear 
their forests, without notifying their intention to do so at least four 
months beforehand, and the Fores Department can, with certain 
