CHAPTER II. 



FOREST ADMINISTRATION IN FRANCE IN THE FIRST HALF 

 OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 



BY the middle of the seventeenth century woods and 

 forests in France had come to be valued for their pro- 

 ducts, more than for the shelter which they afforded to 

 game. But they were subjected to such devastation that 

 one far-seeing statesman at last perceived that the exist- 

 ence of the nation in a state of vigour was being perilled by 

 the destruction of the woods and forests, and he gave ex- 

 pression to his fears in the oft-quoted saying France perira 

 faute des Bois ! France will perish through lack of woods. 

 It was Colbert, the Minister of Louis XIV., and no one 

 acquainted with the condition of the forests and of the 

 forest service at that time will be surprised that such was 

 his utterance. 



The following is a translation of a manuscript report 

 preserved in the National Library of France, La Biblio- 

 theque Nationel. It bears the title, Rapport au roi sur la 

 Provence de Touraine par Charles Colbert de Cressy, Com- 

 missionaire departe, en 1661. 



' FORESTS OF THE PROVINCE OF TOURS. 



' The woods of this province are as extensive, and they 

 are as badly managed, as are any in any otherDepartment 

 in the kingdom. All this Department is managed by a 

 Grand -Master of the old school, who has for colleagues 

 another like to himself, and a third like to them both : 

 the first is called Taschereau, the second Lignieres, and 



