210 France. 



the law of 1792, the forest property of the refugees of 

 the revolution which was, however, later for the most 

 part restored or indemnified. Finally, when, by the 

 treaty of Basel (1795), the French frontier had been 

 pushed to the Rhine, the total state forest had grown 

 to around 6,500,000 acres, nearly one-third of the 

 total forest area. 



But, through sales and otherwise, this area 

 had, by 1815, been reduced to 3,200,000 acres, 

 and during the period until 1872, the area had 

 been further again reduced to less than 2,500,000 

 acres. At present (1905) it comprises 2.9 mil- 

 lion acres, or less than 12 per cent., of the 

 total forest area, 55 per cent, of which comes 

 from the original royal domain, 22 per cent, from 

 original church property and 23 per cent, from recent 

 acquisitions, secured under the laws of reboisement 

 of mountains, sand dunes, etc. 



The communal property developed largely in a 

 similar manner as in Germany, from the Mark, and 

 through the feudal system, with its rights of user as 

 a result. In the twelfth century, the grandees or 

 seigneurs were active in colonizing their domains, 

 acquired as fiefs or otherwise, with serfs and others, 

 giving them charters for villages with communal 

 privileges and rights. Under this method, another 

 kind of communal forest property grew up, by written 

 instruments or contracts, in which limitations and 

 reservations of rights are imposed by the seigneurs. 

 One of the most usual conditions of the contract 

 was the prevention of clearing or sale; at the same 

 time a new set of rights of user, this time on the part 



