117 



all qualities, 321,741 tons weight of tanning bark, 2,556 tons weight of cork, and 

 31,539 tons weight of resin ; the whole being valued at 9,471,017. The average 

 production of wood was therefore 39 cubic feet per acre ; and the gross revenue, 

 omitting that on minor produce, which was very small, was equal to 8s. 4d. per 

 acre. 



But in addition to this, it is calculated that the isolated trees, not grown for 

 the sake of their timber, and vines yield together three and one-hali' million loads 

 per annum, valued at 1,000,000 ; so that the total production of wood in France 

 is raised to about twenty-one and one-half million loads, and the value of the 

 wood, bark, and resin to about 10,500,000. This gives the amount of wood and 

 the money value of the forest produce per head of the population as 29^ cubic 

 feet, and 5s. 9d. respectively. 



Of the twenty-one and one-half million loads of wood produced, about four 

 million loads were timber and the rest firewood. The latter sufficed for the 

 national requirements, but the former was far from doing so ; for the imports of 

 wood of this class exceeded the exports by 2,062, 432 loads, valued at 6,408,000 

 that is to say, that it was less than two-thirds of the amount required. The 

 question of foreign timber supply is, therefore, a very important one, even for 

 Prance, which has 17 per cent, of its area under forest. 



FORESTS MANAGED BY THE STATE FOREST DEPARTMENT. 



The forest law of 1827, which is still in force, confirmed the previous legisla- 

 tion, under which all woods and forests which form part of the domain of the 

 State, all those which being the property of communes or sections, or of public 

 Institutions, are susceptible of being worked under a regular system, and finally 

 all those in which the State, the communes, or public institutions possess a 

 proprietary right jointly with private persons, are administered directly by the 

 State Forest Department in accordance with the provisions of the forest law. 



The areas thus administered at the commencement of 1885 were as follows, 

 viz., 



These figures, which include the dunes, represent about 5J per cent, of the 

 entire area of France, and nearly one-third of the total wooded area. An 

 additional 144 square miles of barren land had, up to the end of 1884, been 

 purchased by the State in connection with the project for the consolidation of 

 bare and unstable slopes on the great mountain ranges ; and this area is also 

 administered by the department under the forest law. About 40 per cent, of the 

 State forests are situated in the plains, while the rest of them, together with 

 nearly the whole of the communal forests, are found in about equal proportions 

 on low hills, up to an altitude of 1,700 feet, and on the higher mountain ranges. 

 About one half of them stand on limestone rock, 92 per cent, of their entire area 

 being actually under wood. 



