NOTES ON CONTINENTAL FORESTRY IN 1905. 167 
firewood and of charcoal consumed has sunk by nearly one-half 
during the last twenty-five years, while the quantity of coal, 
anthracite, and coke has increased by one-half. The conversion 
of private woodlands into highwoods for timber is being con- 
stantly urged by the State (see Zransactions for 1905, p. 164), but 
this has to face the practical difficulties that only a comparatively 
small number of large proprietors can command the services of 
highly-trained foresters, and that conversion must always mean 
loss of present revenue for the sake of improved returns later on. 
But, as “union is strength,” some of the smaller proprietors 
are now beginning to form themselves into local associations in 
order to combine and obtain the services of well-trained wood- 
managers and subordinates, and generally such benefits as have 
been already achieved for agriculture by the formation of syndicats 
agricoles. And this movement is being encouraged not only for 
the sake of the benefits that will accrue to the landowners them- 
selves, but also for the other national-economic advantages 
thereby obtainable. It is not only, however, as regards sylvi- 
culture that the advantages of skilled management and good 
supervision are evident, because protective works are also better 
carried out. ‘This is clearly shown in the case of the hill-forests 
of the Estérel (on the Riviera), aggregating 35,000 acres, about 
one-half of which are State-owned and the other half com- 
munal, where fires have, during the last fifteen years (1890 to 
1904), Overrun seven times as large an area in the communal 
woods as in the State Forests—in which protective works are 
better carried out, and there is a better network of roads and 
paths upon which to base operations. 
Among the more purely sylvicultural articles, there is a very 
interesting one on the “ Treatment of Scots Pine in the Region of 
Paris.” Introduced there from farther north, it has shown such 
a tendency to reduced longevity and precocious seed-production 
as to necessitate a different method of treatment from that 
obtaining in localities where this tree is indigenous. Thus, for 
example, in place of a rotation of 100 to 120 years or more, the 
working-plan of 1892 for Scots pine (15,000 acres) at Fontaine- 
bleau fixed it at 72 years (1893-1964), divided into eight 
periods of nine years each, but even this was found (on 
a revision in 1902) to be much too high, and a decree of 
22nd April 1904 has further lowered it to 56 years (1893- 
1948), divided into eight periods of seven years each, because 
