DISPOSAL OF PRODUCE 73 



not have the resources with which to conduct the operations, 

 the exploitation was at first placed in private hands, under a 

 lease system. After the fires of 1862-63, some 162,000 hectares 

 (400,302 acres) were ceded outright under the following arrange- 

 ment: during the first lo-year period there were no payments, 

 during the second lo-year period a payment of 2 francs ($0.386) 

 per hectare (2.5 acres) per year was required with the under- 

 standing that at the end of 20 years the lessor would be given 

 the land in fee simple. 



According to the decree of Aug. 9, 1864, the cork oak could 

 be leased after public auction for periods not to exceed 90 years, 

 but as a matter of fact most of these concessions were sold out- 

 right in 1867 and 1870. By the decree of Feb. 2, 1870, the 

 areas (a) burned between Jan. i, 1863, and June 30, 1870, as 

 well as (b) a third of the areas not burned, were given outright 

 to the lessors. The two-thirds of unburned areas were sold 

 for 60 francs ($11.58) per hectare (2.5 acres), payable in 20 

 annuities; these began 10 years after the sale, at the rate of 

 2 francs ($0.386) each year of the first 10 years, from 1880, and 

 4 francs ($0.772) for the last 10 years. The governor was also 

 authorized to give free of charge an area equal to the area 

 burned over, if the grantors had suffered severe losses. If 

 work was not started in 5 years, however, on at least a quarter 

 of the area, then the third part given free could be revoked. 



These sales were condemned so severely that in 1876 a system 

 of i4-year leases were tried out, but the working was badly 

 complicated by fires and by failure of the concession holders to 

 comply with the regulations, and the experiment proved a 

 failure. Later, as an alternative, the cork was sold standing 

 at a price per quintal (220 pounds) collected, but half the 

 cork collected disappeared before it could be weighed. When 

 this scheme fell through, therefore, the Forest Service was author- 

 ized on July 1 6, 1891, to collect and sell the cork after collection; 

 this method has continued in force to the present time and is 

 entirely satisfactory. The amount collected has risen steadily; 

 11,000 quintaux (2,424,400 pounds) in 1892; 31,000 (6,832,400 

 pounds) in 1897; to 86,000 (18,954,400 pounds) in 1904. 



