TRANSLATORS' PREFACE. 



It may be objected that this book, being written 

 only with reference to the conditions of soil, climate 

 and species peculiar to France, possesses no value 

 for Foresters in other countries where these three 

 elements may be different. That this objection is 

 only partially true, is so evident that very few words 

 are necessary to justify the present publication. 

 The broad principles of forestry remain the same 

 everywhere, they are, so to say, mathematical 

 constants. Heat, oxygen, and moisture are always 

 essential for germination ; young plants will invari- 

 ably die if deprived of the amount of sunlight they 

 require; inferior associated species of more rapid 

 growth must be kept down by means of cleanings, 

 &c., &c. These instances may be indefinitely 

 multiplied. Even the chapters specially devoted 

 to the treatment of the French forest trees, to 

 which the above objection, if it has any force at all, 

 applies in its fullest extent, even those chapters are 

 not without their interest and use. The oak, the 

 beech, the silver fir, the Scotch fir, and their peculiar 



906865 



