212 France. 



Nevertheless they continued to grow so that, by 

 the middle of the 18th century, they were as general 

 and afforded as great a hindrance to forest manage- 

 ment, as in Germany. The ordinance of 1669 also 

 provided for the extinction of these rights, apparently 

 without much success, and the troublesome times 

 after 1789 increased their number. Only when the 

 orderly regime following the reign of Napoleon gave 

 rise to the Code Forestier (1827), was a systematic 

 attempt for their extinguishment by the cession of 

 territory and cash payment begun, and by this time 

 the extinction may be considered practicallyconcluded, 

 at least for the state and communal property. 



Private property, not seignorial, was but little 

 developed before the 16th century; after that the 

 frequent sales by the kings and barons gave rise to 

 small forest owners, so that, by 1789, over 10 million 

 acres were in such possession. During the 19th cen- 

 tury this grew by purchase, by cessions, and by re- 

 forestation of waste lands to double that amount, 

 not less than two million acres being added by the 

 latter cause alone, while some decrease came from 

 clearings. 



In 1905, private holdings comprised 15 million 

 acres or 65 per cent, of the total; the communal and 

 institutional forests 4.8 million acres or 21 per cent., 

 leaving for State forest 2.9 million acres, or a little 

 over 12 per cent, of the total of 22.7 million acres. 

 Twenty-two per cent, of state and communal pro- 

 perty is, however, waste land, and such areas in pri- 

 vate hands may be six times as large; there being alto- 

 gether between 14 and 15 million acres of waste lands. 



