NOTES ON THE FORESTS OF AUVERGNE. 2 J 



almost inevitably take place under the uncontrolled exploitation 

 by the communes themselves. In areas belonging to communes, 

 such as that of the Foret de Lastic which was taken over by 

 the State for afforestation some sixty years ago, the scheme 

 met with strong opposition and the forest officer went in peril 

 of his life when the work was first begun, but since then the 

 commune has realised that a forest which has created sufficient 

 revenue to pay all their taxes, provide all their firewood and 

 building requirements and a small dividend in addition, is an 

 investment which more than repays the loss of a small portion 

 of their grazing area. 



The systems of ownership are interesting in their variety, for 

 in addition to the stereotyped forms of communal ownership we 

 find two unusual forms. The first is that of a "syndicate ot 

 communes," such as is found in the Foret d'Aubusson, which is 

 held by five villages lying on the slopes of the Mont de Forez, on 

 the crest of which this forest is situated. The forest originally 

 belonged to a feudal baron but the ownership passed to the 

 communes, and in order to establish the long rotation which is 

 essential to obtain a good return from these mountain forests 

 of silver fir, these five villages formed a syndicate which is 

 represented by an elected president, who co-operates with the 

 local State forest officer in the management. A sufficiently 

 large area is thus kept under one working-plan to enable them 

 to work it on a rotation of 150 years, and the profits are shared 

 according to the claims of each household represented. 



The second system of ownership peculiar to this area is to be 

 found around St Germain d'Herment, where considerable areas 

 of forest are owned by small cultivators who in addition to 

 owning some 20-30 hectares of woodland may each have a 

 20 hectare farm and some live stock. Blocks of such areas are 

 supervised by the local State officer, though the actual amount 

 cut each year is left to the decision of the owner; contiguous 

 plots are separated only by a furrow run between the stone 

 "bornes" at each end, and the results of differing notions of 

 management can be seen at a glance on such compact areas. 



The country as a whole gives one the impression that the 

 conservative habits of the French agricultural population are 

 militating against the full utilisation of the soil. Many areas of 

 mediocre heath soil which are at present only good for grazing 

 a few head of cattle, if put under trees would produce a timber 



