ElPLOltATlOtf. 14* 



of Previous Treatment of Forests in France, in which 

 volume some notices are given of this method of exploita- 

 tion (pp. 40-44). 



It may be perceived that these regulations proceed 

 upon the assumption that the particular method of 

 exploitation to which they refer was one well known, 

 which was the case, as it was one which did not originate 

 with the Ordinance, but had been practised, long both in 

 Germany and France, though not so generally and exten- 

 sively as it was subsequently to the promulgation of this 

 Ordinance. To place the student of Forest Science of 

 to-day on something like the same vantage ground as was 

 enjoyed by those who some two hundred years ago were 

 so jubilant over this Ordinance, it may be allowed to me 

 now to supply some additional information in explanation 

 or illustration of exploitation according to the method 

 known as a tire et aire, even at the risk of being accused 

 of repetition. 



When the management of forests had commanded for 

 some time the attention of men of a scientific spirit in 

 Germany and in France, it was found that the long con- 

 tinued prosecution of Jardinage was diminishing the 

 products of forests and imperilling their continued exist- 

 ence, and there was introduced this method of exploitation. 



The exact import of the designation I have endeavoured 

 in vain to learn. It has always been associated in my 

 mind with the English phrase Cut and come again. In 

 the absence of information from French foresters and 

 French etymologists, I have been led to surmise that aire 

 may be an antiquated abbreviated form of avoir, and that 

 the phrase may have been designed to express the idea of 

 uprooting and yet possessing, of felling and yet having or 

 possessing implying that though Jardinage might have 

 failed, this method of exploitation would succeed, in secur- 

 ing a preservation of the forests. The English colloquial 

 phrase I have referred to suggests itself to me, but it 

 does not express what is expressed in the French phrase* 



