122 CORSICA 



cumference, i metre (39 inches) from the trunk, can be peeled, 

 and then only 3 years after the trunk bark has been collected. 

 Trees are considered mature and ready for felling when after 

 18 years the cork measures at least 23 millimetres (0.91 inch), 

 or when the trees are burned by fire. The contractor must, 

 moreover, assume all responsibility in case trees are burned, 

 wind- thrown or killed by act of Providence. 



Fir. — The fir (abies) is found in a few scattering groups on 

 the higher mountains. Perhaps the largest commercial body 

 of fir is on the north exposures in the forest of Aitone. It is 

 also found in considerable quantities in the forests of Libio, 

 Punteniello, and Pietrapiana; there are a few trees in the forest 

 of Valdoniello. 



Chestnut. — The chestnut is not important in federal or 

 communal forests. It is grown for its fruit, which is baked 

 and eaten by the peasants and also fed to the stock. Recently 

 a very serious problem ^^ has arisen in connection with the 

 production of this wood. In 1902 some 80,000 steres (2,825,120 

 stacked cubic feet) or 240 hectares (593 acres) of chestnut forest 

 was cut for tannin; in 191 1 to 191 2 this had risen to 200,000 

 steres (7,628,000 stacked cubic feet), corresponding to 600 hec- 

 tares (1482 acres) ; and since in 1910 ^^ the total area under chest- 

 nut was estimated at only 48,787 hectares (120,552 acres), in- 

 creased felHngs might readily menace the peasants' food supply. 

 From the fact that the tannin value of the average tree is only 

 worth 5 or 6 chestnut fruit crops, de Lapasse calls the deforesta- 

 tion "Killing the goose that lays the golden eggs." As a remedy 

 he strongly advocates the policy of forbidding deforestation 

 by law and a heavy tax on tannin. The past results from pay- 

 ing cash for plantations have been imaginary, so reliance on 

 this measure (tried with equally deplorable results in the western 

 United States with the timber-culture law) is discouraged. 

 The chestnut blight disease which has caused so much damage, 

 and which has encouraged the cutting for tannin, is to be com- 

 bated by trying to introduce an immune species. 



1" Letter from Conservator de Lapasse in the Rapport du Prefet, 1912. 

 " La Corse Agricole, April 10, 1911. 



