Hunting in France 



285 



of the forest and are twenty -five years cutting the timber from 

 it, when there is twenty-five years growth to begin with again. 

 The clearings thus made take all the underbrush and small 

 trees, leaving a large straight tree here and there to grow on 

 for another twenty-five years, or until it begins to show decay. 

 This underbrush and twenty-five years growth of timber is cut 

 off close to the ground so that the portion recently cleared is 



We^f d 



beautiful open forest, with just enough large trees left to shade 

 the ground. The uncut forest is, for the most part, a thicket 

 of underbrush and so dense in some places that a bird could 

 hardly fly through it. The whole great acreage is laid out in 

 roads and lanes. The roads form squares so that in about every 

 three-quarters of a mile the turnpike roads come together in 

 four corners. Running diagonally across these squares, in each 



