94 ELEMENTS OF SYLVICULTURE. 



temperate climates and in moist or damp soils. 

 Hence, because no cleanings were made, the oak dis- 

 appeared to make way for secondary or inferior 

 species, and the absence of thinnings did not allow 

 the few individuals that chanced to remain living 

 either to develop a good crown or to attain the most 

 useful size. 



Even in a mild climate, where soft-woods are rare 

 and the beech and hornbeam less at home than the 

 oak, this tree, while remaining in possession of the 

 ground, only yielded soft timber well adapted for 

 planking, and for all purposes in which split-wood is 

 required, but unsuited for large constructions. 



A mere statement of these facts is enough to show 

 that the method of <{ Tire et Aire" was defective in 

 its procedure, and was bound to result in irregular 

 crops. In the application want of skill frequently 

 rendered matters still worse. Thus it was that a 

 committee charged with the revision of forest matters, 

 not being able to explain the disappearance of the 

 oak, attributed it to the rotation being too long. 

 They then ordered it to be reduced to sixty or seventy 

 years, in the hope that shoots from the stool might 

 complete a crop of natural seedlings. 



Moreover, the exploitations were often confined to 

 the vicinity of roads, in localities where the produce 

 found a ready sale. The remainder was left intact, 

 and as the area cut over every year was constant, 

 being equal to the whole area of the forest divided by 

 the number of years in the rotation, crops were cut 

 before their term of exploit ability was reached. 



Another defect which may be alleged against the 



