286 FORESTRY IN FRANCE. 
considered as resulting from acts of insurrection, and the lands of 
the offending tribe can be confiscated. 6th, After a forest, or part 
of one, has been burnt, right-holders cannot graze their cattle in it 
for at least six years. 
A new law was passed in December 1885, the principal provi- 
sions of which are the following, viz. :—1st, All classes of proprie- 
tors can free their forests from rights of all kinds by payment of 
compensation, either in the form of land or money ; and when 
estimating the value of such rights, the resources of the right- 
holders, on their own property, can be taken into account. 
2d, Patches of cultivation, or other private lands, enclosed within 
the State or communal forests can be expropriated. 3d, The pro- 
prietors of cork forests, which have not been entirely cleared of 
shrubs, can be forced to maintain fire-lines round them. 4th, With 
certain exceptions, no private proprietor can cut down or bark his 
trees without sanction. 5th, With some exceptions, all practices 
which are injurious to the forests are treated under the laws 
relating to clearances—that is to say, they can be forbidden on 
certain specified grounds. 6th, The two last-named provisions of 
the law apply not only to areas covered with trees, but also in 
some cases to those which grow only scrub. 7th, Any land which 
in the public interest ought to be afforested can be expropriated. 
8th, During the period (1st November to 1st July) in which the 
lighting of fires within or near forests is not expressly forbidden 
by the law of 1874, standing shrubs and grass cannot be burnt 
anywhere, without previous sanction being obtained. 
The number of forest officers of the superior grades employed 
in Algeria is 67. The forests of each department form a 
conservatorship ; but these and the subordinate charges are very 
much larger than similar charges in France. Their average size is 
as follows, viz. :—Conservatorship, 2635 square miles; division, 
527 square miles; sub-division, 176 square miles; guard’s beat, 
38 square miles—that is to say, a guard’s beat is two-thirds of the 
size of a French division, the other charges being in proportion. 
These areas are too large, but the forests cannot afford a stronger 
staff at present. Until very lately the Algerian Forest Department 
was entirely local ; but it was found that this arrangement tended 
to interfere with its efficiency, by impairing the status of the 
officers, and it is now incorporated with the General Forest Service 
of France. 
