26 THE FORESTS OF FRANCE. 



thereby there may be established a fear of trespassing in 

 the forests, which might ruin them." 



' Under date of 28th January, 1664, a special ordinance 

 was issued " for the reform of the woods and forests of 

 Brittany." The preamble of this ordinance is of sufficient 

 interest to justify citations at least in part. " Considering 

 that the miserable condition in which all the woods and 

 forests of the kingdom are to be found, leads to the con- 

 clusion that this is one of the great evils which the 

 disorders of the bygone times have occasioned, and leads 

 to the desire that the most prompt and efficacious remedies 

 possible should be applied; . . and forasmuch as we 

 have been advertised that one of the principal causes of 

 the disorderly condition of our said woods and forests pro- 

 ceeds from the incapacity of some of the said officers of 

 these, from malversations committed by them and by 

 purchasers at sales, and by the holders of property situ- 

 ated alongside of the woods and forests, and by the prac- 

 tised impunity, We will that We be informed precisely by 

 Our said Commissioners/or by those whom they may sub- 

 delegate to this effect, of the peculations, exactions, and 

 vexations committed on our said woods and forests by the 

 said officers and the said purchasers, and adjacent property- 

 holders."* 



* To many it may seem that such a picture must have been drawn under the influ- 

 ence of a morbid state of mind, and a melancholic view of men and things. Without 

 entering on an investigation of this, or attempting proof or disproof of its being the 

 case, I may state in support of its verisimilitude that a similar state of things seemed 

 to exist in Russia during my residence in that country from 1833 to 1840, and to have 

 prevailed long. That a similar state of things existing in the management of the 

 Crown Woods and Forests of Great Britain was brought to light by evidence collected 

 by a Committee of the House of Commons in 1848 and 1849. And a somewhat similar 

 state of things existing in the management of Crown Forests in the Col< >ny of the Cape 

 of Good Hope was reported by me in a Memoir On the Conservation and Extension of 

 Forests as a means of counteracting the disastrous consequences following the destruc- 

 tion of bush and herbage by fire, appended to my Report as Colonial Botanist for 1863 ; 

 in Memoirs on Forests and Forest Lands of Southern Africa, and on the Forest Economy 

 of the Colony, abstracts of which were appended to my Report as Colonial Botanist for 

 1866 -in evidence given by me before a Select Committee of the Legislative Council to 

 consider the Colonial Botanist's Report, 14th August, 1865 and in evidence collected 

 by a Commission. As .regards South Africa, these allegations had reference mainly to 

 reckless waste, but depredations which should not be tolerated were also reported. 

 J. C. B. 



