OBJECTS OF MANAGEMENT (PROTECTION FORESTS) 187 



the trees tall and straight and keep a maximum number per acre, whereas private own- 

 ers choose the best trees to leave and thin heavily around them to give each tree full 

 sunlight and encourage a large crown development." 



Yet, as a matter of fact, the best timber is in private hands because 

 the private forests usually occupy the richest soils, while the State 

 forests are along the coast. In the Landes and Gironde most of the 

 dune forests are in public hands and they are primarily held as a zone 

 of defence against drifting sand. Of necessity they are heavily thinned 

 relatively to allow the crown development so necessary to a light-demand- 

 ing species. Moreover, so far as my own investigations show, even State 

 forests outside protection working groups are now managed for resin rather 

 than for lumber. Private forests are in less exposed situations and are 

 managed solely for profit, and resin yields more than two-thirds the income. 



According to an unpublished official note it appears that protection 

 working groups must be handled with great conservatism: 



" . . . The protection a working group will then be treated with cuttings having 

 a selection character; a physical exploitability will be applied, taking count, however, 

 in a certain measure, of the special vegetative conditions of the maritime pine. Tap- 

 ping without killing will be practiced, but with prudence, the yield in resin being first 

 sacrificed in the interest of keeping the stand as fully stocked as possible in the essen- 

 tial role of protection. Experience has shown that the faculty given executive agents 

 by the special decisions governing exploitation of the coast working groups, of com- 

 mencing the application of tapping without killing pine measuring 12 inches and over 

 in diameter (instead of 14 inches in the other working groups), has had unfortunate 

 results on the increment and longevity of the trees faced. In the last marking we have 

 really been obliged to let a considerable number of pine clearly over-worked remain 

 idle in order to allow them to heal their scars which were too numerous and too wide. 



"Being selected for protection working groups the production in wood is only second- 

 ary; on the other hand the production in resin can return an important revenue from 

 these stands. But this production will not continue sustained unless it is not over- 

 whelmed j>y a premature chipping of the trees exposed to the ocean winds, and con- 

 sequently growing under less favorable conditions than the stands in the interior. 

 Accordingly we believe that the reverse of this has been carried out and under penalty 

 of making mistakes it is essential that the pine of the coast working groups be treated 

 conservatively and only tapped without killing when they reach a size which will en- 

 able them to stand this operation. We are of the opinion that, as in the case of the 

 exploitation working groups, the tapping without killing cannot be applied until the 

 trees measure at least 14 inches in diameter. In the seventh working group the fellings 

 will take place on the basis of special recommendations; the work done will follow the 

 principles which have just been explained." 



22 Cultural rules for protection working groups, unpublished note by De Lapasse, 

 dated December 21, 1908: The general forest conditions of the Landes and Gironde 

 have already been described (see p. 169) and also the silvical characteristics of the 

 maritime pine (see p. 401). Mature stands 60 to 70 years old average 10,000 to 20,000 

 board feet to the acre; this high yield from small timber is because the soil is fully 

 stocked. On private land mature timber runs 60 to 70 trees per acre and in State 

 forests 100 or more. 



