CHAPTER IV 

 FOREST STATISTICAL DATA 



PRIVATE FOREST OWNERS (p. 45). Ownership, System of Cutting, and Production, 

 Forest Areas and Per Cent of Species by Departments, Analysis of General Statistics, 

 Management Statistics, Costs of Administration, Statistics of Fir Stands in the Jura, 

 Statistics for Levier. 



Private Forest Owners. About one-tenth the French forest area 

 belongs to the State, two-tenths to communes and public institutions, 

 and seven-tenths to private owners. There is an incredible number of 

 small owners, a fact never before noted by English or American writers. 

 In 1912 there were 1,538,526 private forest owners 1 (excluding the com- 

 munes, which are really groups of small joint owners). There were fully 

 1,446,200 owners with less than 25 acres, only 82,285 owners with forests 

 of 25 to 1,253 acres, and but 742 owners of forests over 1,235 acres. Take 

 any department at random: In the Puy-de-D6me 101,510 acres out of 

 the total area are in the hands of 32,684 owners, each owning less than 25 

 acres, and there are only 628 owners who possess more than 25 acres each. 

 Even in the Seine-et-Marne, just west of Paris, there are 50,787 acres in 

 the hands of 31,085 owners. Out of ten departments, taken at random, 

 there were 97,710 owners with less than 25 acres of forest each, their 

 average holdings being 3.2 acres. This is of the utmost importance; it is 

 the key to the stability of France. In other countries the forests are 

 usually in the hands of large owners ; in the Republic of France the forest 

 land, as well as the agricultural land, is divided among the people. There 

 are few large estates remaining. Out of all the private forests in France 

 there are only seventy-nine over 2,500 acres; in twenty-one departments 

 there are none of this size. In the United States there are millions of 

 farmers owning small woodlots, but according to the Society of American 

 Foresters : 



"A few men have secured vast amounts of private timber and timberlands. Already 

 1,802 owners control more than 79,000,000 acres of the forest lands of the United States. 

 In Florida 182 holders own more than 9,000,000 acres. In Michigan over 5,000,000 

 acres are held by 32 owners. In Louisiana 27 holders own more than 6,000,000 acres. 

 In the Pacific Northwest three owners have more than 9,000,000 acres. And these are but 

 typical instances." 



1 The figures of the total number of owners, given in the official French Forest Atlas 

 of 1912, do not check with the owners under the various size classes. This discrepancy 

 cannot be explained but does not affect the conclusions. 



45 



