INTRODUCTION 



No student can fail to see that forestry may attain its optimum de- 

 velopment under the favorable climatic, regenerative, and vegetative 

 conditions that exist in France. Dr. Martin, of Tharandt, remarked, 

 after a tour of French forests, that "Natural regeneration is more suc- 

 cessful and far more general than in Germany because of the mild cli- 

 mate, sufficient rainfall, and prolific seeding." Natural regeneration of 

 sessile oak in the valley of the Adour is not only certain but easily ob- 

 tained; and what could be simpler than the clear cutting of maritime 

 pine, followed by complete seeding? Even the high forests of peduncu- 

 late oak in mixture with beech are naturally regenerated because the soil 

 and seed may be made ready for regeneration by the application of forest 

 science.^ The silver-fir stands in the Vosges, Jura, Savoie, Haute-Savoie, 

 and the Pyrenees regenerate naturally. Even spruce can be reproduced 

 with but little artificial aid. But when Martin predicted, in 1906, that 

 artificial forestation was on the increase in France, he missed the mark. 

 With the shortage and high cost of labor to-day, France is further away 

 from artificial regeneration than ever before, except to repair the ravages 

 of war and counteract the results of past improvident and excessive 

 exploitation. 



The value and necessity of maintaining a conservative forest policy is 

 to-day recognized in France as never before. It is generally admitted 

 that the area (18.7 per cent) already in forest is insufficient. France had 

 to import heavily before the war and her timber needs cannot be met 

 from local sources even with the return of Alsace-Lorraine. What 

 countries will furnish this timber deficit is difficult to predict. The cost 

 of importing timber from the United States has been accentuated by the 

 increase in steamship and railway freight rates, and by the unfavorable 

 rate of exchange, since to-day it takes 10 to 11 French francs to equal one 

 dollar. Even with the timber France can buy from countries with de- 

 preciated currency and with the timber she should receive from Germany 

 as reparation, every acre of waste land should be forested. France can- 

 not afford to neglect maintaining and increasing her natural forest re- 

 sources, not only for their direct returns, but also for their indirect value 



1 Soil preparation is usually obligatory, and it is often difficult to maintain the proper 

 proportion of oak in the north or west of France because good oak-seed years occur only 

 every 10 to 12 years. 



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