FOREST EXPLOITATION "JARDINAGE." 39 



to protect, by prudent foresight, the interests of the future 

 while supplying the requirements of the present; and 

 in 1544, 1576, ^and 1579 there were issued ordinances 

 designed to regulate the felling of timber, and deter- 

 mining the duration of lengthened periods during which 

 no fellings should take place in portions of the forests which 

 had been cleared of trees deemed fit to be felled, that time 

 might be afforded for the reproduction of forest by a new 

 growth of trees; by the ordinance of 1669 the general 

 practise of it in France was terminated, and now it is only 

 tolerated in circumstances in which the application of the 

 more advanced forest economy of the present day would 

 be productive of more evil than good, as would often be 

 the case on mountain crests, &c., where the woods afford 

 shelter and protection, which once destroyed it would be 

 difficult to restore, and impracticable to restore till after a 

 time, during which damage, perhaps irreparable damage, 

 would be done.' 



