156 TRANSACTIONS OF KOYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



tion than in the block actually prescribed for regeneration, those 

 areas may be substituted. But this must necessarily introduce 

 extreme confusion, and especially, one imagines, in the export 

 arrangements of the future. The Uniform method, of which the 

 object is to induce a regular gradation of ages throughout the 

 forest, has a great deal to recommend it, but it is undeniable 

 that its introduction connotes many sacrifices (as, for example, 

 the removal of immature stems, which is often necessary), and, 

 so far, French foresters do not seem to have arrived at a good 

 way of avoiding them. 



M. Mer, however, was altogether against the Uniform method 

 in the higher Vosges, where natural regeneration is difficult. 

 His idea was that the forest should be divided into a few (say 

 ten) compartments, one to be worked each year. The immature 

 parts would be thinned as necessary according to cultural rules, 

 while the mature timber was felled. Maturity would depend on 

 a fixed diameter instead of age. The "rapport soutenu," the 

 regular sustained yield, should not hamper the operator, for 

 this has been a fetish of the old teachers, greatly hindering 

 true cultural action. So long as there is an annual supply of 

 timber of some sort an exactly equal annual out-turn is not 

 necessary. 



It will be seen that there is no "possibility" in M. Mer's 

 method, but that there is a safeguard against over-cutting in the 

 prescription which forbids the removal of stems of less than a 

 given diameter, except for a cultural reason, such as the relief 

 of congestion in crowded immature parts. Although material is 

 removed in a thinning its very removal results in an increase of 

 growth in the stems left. 



Though a rigidly exact equal out-turn is not necessary some 

 sort of annual supply to the trade is undoubtedly an advantage. 

 Some wood-owners believe it to be best to sell at intervals of 

 years, and to wait for years of a good market, but in my humble 

 opinion that has its drawbacks. It is apt to result in one's wood 

 being bought by speculators, who are often a nuisance, and may 

 leave one with bad debts. On the other hand, if you have a 

 steady (even if restricted) annual sale, whatever the market, you 

 build up a regular clientele of buyers, who come to look to you 

 for their daily bread, quickly understand that to fall foul of you 

 is not paying, and learn to obey your rules, and so do not cause 

 damage, smash the young growth, and so forth. Such a policy 



