CONTINENTAL NOTKS — FRANCE. 79 



shade, since the weaker shoots would, in the former case, die off 

 of themselves. In the case of the hornbeam the figures very 

 definitely showed that the operation resulted, not only in pro- 

 ducing better individual stool-shoots, but also that the volume, 

 and, more still, the value, of the thinned //<?/ was the greater. 



M. Berthon complains that the rules in vogue for dealing with 

 Selection-worked forests of spruce and silver fir are the same for 

 the two species, and consist in seeking regeneration by more 

 or less evenly thinning the wood throughout. Though this 

 produces silver fir seedlings it does not result in spruce regenera- 

 tion till several repetitions of the operation have sufficiently 

 opened the cover, while in the meantime the stems remaining 

 have suffered through not being retained in close crop, which 

 is essential for spruce. Consequently he suggests that re- 

 generation fellings for spruce should be made in gaps, the 

 remainder of the crop being only lightly thinned where there 

 is actual congestion. The soil should be wounded in these 

 gaps. This sounds rational, and it seems to show that the 

 French are beginning to see the beauties of the Group system, 

 a system of which, at anyrate twenty-five years ago, one never 

 heard in France. I think this system will more and more 

 come to the front, for broad-leaved species as well as conifers. 

 The one danger, for conifers in the hills, is wind, but probably 

 if the gaps are sufficiently far apart, and not too pronounced, 

 there need be no fear. Then one of the worst drawbacks of the 

 Selection method, viz., the necessity for felling trees on the top 

 of smaller ones, will disappear, and the irregularity of growth 

 found in selection-grown timber will also disappear. With the 

 Group method one is not tied down to a fixed and restricted 

 coupe, but, working over a relatively larger area, one can seek 

 out spots showing the first signs of young growth, and there 

 remove the overhead crop. For species difficult to regenerate 

 the Group method has much to recommend it. Broadly speak- 

 ing, it enables one to follow the young growth (for there are 

 nearly always some signs of it to be met with somewhere 

 throughout the length and breadth of a wood), instead of making 

 holes in the canopy to produce a problematical one. 



The Algerian forests appear to be doing well. I believe 

 that the French have had much trouble there in the past, and can 

 well imagine that some of their methods have not been under- 

 stood by the indigenous population : forest administration on 



