FORESTRY COMMISSIONER. 71 



PRIVATE FORESTS. 



The aggregate extent of private forests is 505,900 acres, 

 of which, by the statistics of 1896, beech (fagus silvatica) 

 comprises 44 per cent; oak, ash, maple, birch and alder 

 comprise 18 per cent, and spruce (picea excels a), pine 

 (pinus sylvestris and montana), silver fir (abies pectinata), 

 larch (larix Europea), etc., 38 per cent. Three-fourths 

 to four-fifths of these forests are managed on forestry 

 principles. The extent of private forests by the official 

 statistics was, in 1888, 414,837 acres, and, in 1896, 454,- 

 874 acres. By the law of September 27, 1805, before 

 mentioned, and which is still in force, private persons are 

 prohibited from cutting their parts of the old forests of 

 the country standing at that time, aggregating at that 

 date an area of about 280,000 acres. This area comprises 

 (besides the old forest area of the state, about 100,000 

 acres) the remnants of the original forests of the country 

 still existing. Since 1850 very considerable areas have 

 been planted with forests, both by the state and by pri- 

 vate persons, especially in the heathy tracts of the penin- 

 sula of Jutland. In these tracts an area of 108,500 acres 

 has, since 1868, been planted by private persons, how- 

 ever under the guidance and control of the ' ' Hedeslska- 

 bet" (society for the cultivation of heaths), which is aided 

 by the state (for the year 1900 to the extent of $73,000); 

 and of the above area 54,600 acres were thoroughly cul- 

 tivated at the close of 1898. 



FRANCE. 



The total extent of the forests of France (exclusive of 

 the colonies) is about 23,600,000 acres, which represents 

 about 17 per cent of the surface of the entire territory. 



These forests are divided in: Forests of the state, 

 2,800,000 acres; forests of the municipalities and of the 



