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the money realized is paid directly by the purchasers into the communal treasury; 

 before the sale takes place the quantity of timber and firewood required by the 

 inhabitants for their own use is made over to them usually standing in the forest, 

 and it is subsequently worked out by a responsible contractor ; three-quarters 

 only of the total annual yield is available for distribution or sale, the remaining 

 quarter being left to accumulate, and thus form a reserve fund or stock of timber 

 from which exceptional necessities either in the way of wood or money can be 

 met ; the distribution of firewood is made according to the number of heads of 

 families having a real and fixed domicile in the commune ; the entry of goals into 

 the forest is absolutely prohibited, while the grazing of sheep is only permitted 

 temporarily, and under exceptional circumstances, with the special sanction of the 

 government in each case ; no grazing of any kind can be carried on in the forests, 

 except in places declared out of danger by the forest officers who have the power 

 to limit the extent to which it can be practiced with reference to the quantity of 

 grass available ; the forest guards are chosen by the communal authorities, 

 subject to the approval of the forest officer, who delivers to them their warrants ; 

 the State defrays all expenses of management, including the officers' salaries, the 

 marking of trees, notifying of sales, office charges, and the prosecution of offences ; 

 the State is reimbursed by the payment from the communal treasury of a sum 

 equal to 5 per cent, on the sales of principal produce, including the value of the 

 wood, made over to the inhabitants ; but this payment, which forms a first charge 

 on the forest revenue, can never exceed the rate of one franc per hectare (about 

 four pence an acre) of the total area thus managed ; the communes pay the guards' 

 salaries, the taxes, and all charges for the maintenance and improvement of the 

 forest, including planting, sowing, and road-making, as well as those for extra- 

 ordinary works, such as demarcation, survey, and the preparation of working 

 plans. In all this the forest officers are bound by law, to act on the principle 

 that they are managing the property for the benefit of its owners, who must be 

 consulted through their representatives, the mayor and municipal council, in all 

 matters affecting their interests, and whose wishes must be acceded to when they 

 are not opposed by the legislation, or contrary to the recognized principles of 

 scientific forest management. 



The principal public institutions are hospitals, charitable associations, 

 churches, cathedral chapters, colleges, and schools ; and the forests belonging to 

 them are subject to administration by the State Forest Department on precisely 

 the same terms as are those of the commune and sections. 



Of the area of 7,598 square miles shown as being thus managed on behalf 

 of these bodies at the commencement of 1885, about 100 square miles belong to- 

 public institutions, and about 7,500 square miles to communes, including sections. 

 Of the remainder of their forests, about 410 square miles owned by the latter 

 and about 27 square miles by the former are managed respectively by the com- 

 munes themselves under the municipal laws, and by the administrative councils 

 of the institutions. 



Changes in this respect frequently take place ; for every year a certain 

 number of applications to free forests from the restrictions which State control 

 involves are granted, while in other cases the owners demand or consent to their 

 imposition. The records show that sanction has, since the year 1855, been 

 accorded to the clearing of thirty-five square miles and to the alienation of forty 

 square miles of the forests belonging to these bodies, but it is probable that the 

 permission has not, in all cases, been acted on. 



For the sake of convenience the forests belonging to communes, sections and 

 public institutions will in future be spoken of collectively as " communal forests.'^ 



