8 CONCLUSIONS AND SUMMARY 



CORSICA 



Forest administration in Corsica is hampered by an unruly 

 population, by over-grazing, by fires, and, in past years espe- 

 cially, by lack of communication. There are federal, com- 

 munal, and private forests, and the organization is the same 

 as is found on the Continent. If it were not, however, for 

 the inaccessibility of the Corsican pine, growing at a higher 

 elevation than the maritime pine but below the beech and fir, 

 there would be but little forest wealth left on the island. The 

 great lesson to be learned from a study of Corsican forestry is in 

 the method of cutting the pine. To start with, an application of 

 the shelterwood system resulted in large areas of young even-aged 

 coniferous stands. To be sure, it is theoretically poor technique 

 to reproduce even-aged stands of young pine over large areas 

 where fires are frequent; but technique here was secondary to 

 the practical requirement of large sales. Long-term sales for 

 large amounts were a necessary evil in order to justify contrac- 

 tors in building expensive wagon roads. Much the same solution 

 has been found true in the western United States, where at 

 first the Forest Service limited its sales to less than 30 to 40 

 million feet (849, 5 2 1. 4 to 1,132,695.25 cu. m.). To-day in order to 

 justify improvements, such as railroads or flumes, sales for from 

 half a billion to a billion board feet have been recommended. 

 Bearing in mind, therefore, the practical sales conditions and the 

 danger from fire, the fairly intensive group selection system with 

 thinnings seems to be an admirable answer to the problem of 

 regeneration. There is no rigidity in the application of the 

 selection system. There are seed fellings, secondary fellings, 

 final clearances, cleanings, and thinnings as with the shelterwood 

 system; but each operation covers an acre or two so that the 

 result is an uneven-aged forest by groups. 



The methods of determining the rotation and estimating 

 the yield are similar to those in France; in Corsica, the methods 

 are, however, less intensive. The dangers of over-cutting, 

 owing to slack regulation in past years, are admirably illus- 

 trated by many of the Corsican forests where to-day one finds 



