GERMAN COMMENT ON FRENCH FORESTRY 



493 



The work prepared by certain French forest owners for the Paris Exposition affords 

 information on the increase of volume which occurs in the course of a rotation period. 

 It deals fundamentally with stands of coppice with standards with moderately large 

 growing stock of overwood and four age classes the numbers of whose trees per hectare 

 stand in the ratio of 8 (baliveaux) to 4 (modernes) to 2 (anciens) to 1 (vieille ecorce) . The 

 effect of the increased volume is that with a 25-year rotation period the volume of the 

 stands increases in the ratio of 1 to 2; with a 30-year rotation in the ratio of 1 to 2.5. 



The system of coppice with standards seems the poorer form of management as 

 compared with the high forest, more because of the poor quality of the wood produced 

 than because of its small volume. It does not satisfy the demands which have been 

 made for the most important technical properties (clean full boles). The reduction in 

 the number of trees per hectare to about 50 (20 per acre), which occurs at the age of 

 25 years, has the natural result that the twigs which are present at a height of about 

 3 to 5 m. (10 to 15 feet) remain and develop. Corresponding to the formation of large, 

 deep-rooted twigs is the formation of broad annual rings which are laid on for a longer 

 time until decreased under the influence of the underwood growing up about them 

 and of the increasing seed production. Branchy tapering trees of unequal height are 

 the natural result in coppice with standards stands under the conditions of growth 

 described. 



The influence of the type of management on the quality of the wood is clearly shown 

 by presenting yield statistics. In the forests of Blois the volume and financial returns 

 in the past decade were as follows: 



* 165,276 cubic feet. f $12,048.40. J $0.07 per cubic foot. 



The average cubic meter is thus seen to be valued at 13.33 francs, while the adjacent 

 Government high forest has yielded almost double this price for the average cubic 

 meter. 



Relative figures similar to those given us for the forest region which we visited at Blois 

 exist likewise for the entire country. According to the department of agriculture's 

 statistics, in the fiscal year 1876: The value of the average cubic meter amounted in 

 the Government forest to 16.26 francs (9 cents per cubic foot) ; in the communal forest 

 to 8.42 francs (5 cents per cubic foot) ; the yield per year and hectare in the Govern- 

 ment forest to 38.59 francs ($3 per acre); in the communal forest to 22.70 francs ($1.82 

 per acre). 



The chief cause for the difference per cubic meter and in the annual revenue is to be 

 found in the preponderance of coppice with standards in the communal forests. In 



