' ' S ARTAGE " IN FRANCE. 97 



destroying seedlings and young plants, and by partially car- 

 bonising the surface of stumps ; on the other hand, they, 

 by the high temperature imparted to the soil, induce an 

 abundant and remarkably vigorous growth of shoots ; and 

 another advantage of Sartage is that the cereals afford 

 shelter and protection to the shoots when young. 



It is against cold winds, much more than against the 

 sun's heat, that it is of importance to have the shoots 

 protected during the first two years of their growth. 



In the Ardennes it was customary formerly to leave 

 standing around each felled and cleared portion of the 

 forest a cordon of timber trees, which supplied to them 

 protection and defence, and offered advantages superior to 

 those following the Sartage a feu coura?it y inasmuch as this 

 scarcely admits of the reservation of trees for a prolonged 

 growth in the cleared part, and such are desirable for 

 cover and for shade, even when they may not be required 

 for the production of seed to be self-sown in the ground. 

 But little by little these cordons have been used up, they 

 have not been replaced, and since they have disappeared 

 it has been remarked, principally on the plateaux, that 

 the reproduction of coppice woods has become more and 

 more precarious. To this destruction of these sheltering 

 cordons, joined to the abuse of pasturing, is attributed 

 without hesitation the great degradation and falling off 

 of certain forests in that district. And for the lack of that 

 shelter the culture of cereals in connection with Sartage 

 is supposed to supply a remedy more or less efficient. 



Besides the Sartage a feu courant there is another mode 

 of sartage called Sartage a feu convert, to which recourse is 

 had when the ground is covered thickly with herbage, 

 creeping plants, and turf. The soil is pared by means of 

 a hoe, and of the vegetable product there are formed a 

 number of little heaps to which fire is applied, and the 

 ashes are scattered over the whole area of the ground 

 which has been cleared, after which the procedure is the 

 same as has been detailed. 



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