ii8 



CORSICA 



and communal forests, including both those under manage- 

 ment and those for which no working plans have been made, 

 is as follows: 



TABLE 12 



Class of Forests. 



Federal 



Communal 



Private forests and com- 

 munal forests not under 

 forest management 



Average 



Holm 

 oak. 



Corsi- 

 can 

 pine. 



Mari- 

 time 

 pine. 



Cork 

 oak. 



Relative per cent of area occupied by each species. 



3° 



33 



100 

 100 



100 

 100 



Corsican Pine, — By far the most important timber tree is 

 the Corsican pine, which has usually grown in pure, even- 

 aged stands, though in mixture with maritime pine at its lower 

 range and with beech and occasionally fir at its upper hmit. 

 Notably in the forest of Vizzavona the beech seems to be driv- 

 ing the pine out of the higher valleys. 



The largest forests of Corsican pine are Aitone, Valdoniello, 

 Asco, Tavignano, Marmano, Melaja, Verde, and Vizzavona. 

 The pine reaches 45 to 50 metres (148 to 164 feet) in height, 

 and is sometimes 2 metres (6.5 feet) in diameter; but it is 

 very slow in growth, especially after 200 years, and takes 350 

 years or more to grow to a breasthigh diameter of 0.90 to 

 I metre (2.9 to 3.3 feet). Trees have been found 900 to 1000 

 years of age and still sound. In old age the crown is mush- 

 room shaped. 



A number of stump counts were made to gather rough data 

 on the rotation. The figures which follow were collected by 

 the writer in recent cutting areas: 



