12(1 



The communal high forest is for the most part situated in the mountains, 

 and is Composed of coniferous treej, which explains the fact that the greater part 

 of the timber derived from the communal forests is fir and pine, whereas only 

 about one-third <>f that coming from the State forests is of those kinds. 



SALES AND EXPORT. 



rrti'cifxd produce (luood, bark and resin). With the exception of the 

 produce made over to right-holders, and of that delivered to the inhabitants of 

 the communes from their forests for their own consumption, as well as of compara- 

 tively small quantities of tiaiber cut in the State foiests for the war department 

 and admiralty, the whole of the annual produce is sold by public auction, and no 

 other mode of sale is permitted. There are three principal systems of disposal, 

 viz.: Fiist, sale of standing trees ; second, sale at a rate per cubic metre, or other 

 unit of the produce, cut, converted, and taken out by the purchaser ; and third, sale 

 of produce cut and converted by departmental agency. The first of these systems 

 necessitates a previous marking, either of the trees which are to be removed. <>r 

 of those which are to be reserved. There is no guarantee o-iven either as to the 

 number of trees, or as to their species, size, age or condition; but they are bought 

 and sold on the best estimate that either party can make of their value as thev 

 stand. The purchaser, as a matter of course, cuts up and exports the wood at 

 his own cost, and in the form which bests suits him, being bound under seveie 

 penalties to carry out this work in the manner prescribed by the conditions of 

 sale. It has been urged that this system needlessly introduces a middle man 

 between the producer and the consumer, and that thus the profits of the former 

 are reduced, while the regeneration of the forest may be compromised by felling 

 and exporting the trees in a careless or ignorant manner ; but in reply to this it 

 may be said that the wood merchant must always exist, as it is but rarely that 

 the actual consumer can himself go to the forest to get what he wants, and that 

 by strictly enforcing the conditions of sale, which are framed with special regard 

 to this object, interference with the regeneration of the forest is practically 

 avoided. 



The second method differs from the first only in that the auction sale deter- 

 mines the rate at which each of the various classes of produce is to be paid for ; 

 but it is open to the objection that the classification of the produce is difficult, and 

 it thus leads to frequent disputes, in the settlement of which the interests of the 

 proprietor (State or Commune) may be allowed to suffer. This method is rarely 

 adopted, except in the case of thinnings, when the quantity of wood cannot well 

 be accurately estimated beforehand. 



The sale of timber, cut and fashioned by departmental agenc\~, is rarely 

 resorted to. It has certainly the advantage that the work is better done, and 

 that more complete precautions can be taken to secure the regeneration of the 

 forest ; but on the other hand, the State or the commune, as the case may be, 

 must advance all the money for the work, and the forest officers become charged 

 with a large amount of supervision and accounts, while a number of purchasers 

 are admitted to the forest, and offences of various kinds are from time to time 

 committed by them. But the chief objection to the system is that the wood is 

 n}t always cut up in the manner which best suits the requirements of the market 

 at the moment, a matter with which the forest officer can never be so well 

 acquainted as the professional timber merchant, and th'.is not only do the general 

 interests of the country suffer by failure to supply wood in the form in which it is 



