CHAPTER III 

 FOREST REGIONS AND IMPORTANT SPECIES 



Physical and Climatic Features — Industry (p. 25). Area and Topography, 

 Climate, Agriculture, Other Industries, Water Power, Commerce, Government. 



Forest Regions (p. 29). Broad Divisions, Plains, Parisienne Zone, Gironde Zone, 

 Proven^ale Zone, Mountains, Vosges Zone, Jura Zone, Alps Zone, Central Plateau 

 Zone, Pyrenees Zone, Some Mountain Forests in Detail, Vosges, Alps, Pyrenees. 



Important Forest Species (p. 40). Acreage and Distribution, Pedunculate Oak, 

 Sessile Oak, Beech, Hornbeam, Holm Oak, Cork Oak, Silver Fir, Scotch Pine, Maritime 

 Pine, Norway Spruce, European Larch, Aleppo Pine, Exotics, Use of Exotics. (See 

 Appendix, p. 387, for data on species.) 



PHYSICAL AND CLIMATIC FEATURES — INDUSTRY i 



Area and Topography. — France is a western country in western 

 Europe, hexagonal in form, bounded northwest by the North Sea, Strait 

 of Dover (Pas-de-Calais) and the Enghsh Channel (La Manche) ; west by 

 the Atlantic Ocean; southwest by Spain; southeast by the Mediterranean; 

 east by Italy, Switzerland, and Germany; northeast by Germany, Luxem- 

 burg, and Belgium. From north to south its length is about 600 miles, 

 measuring from Dunkirk to the Col de Falgueres; its breadth from east 

 to west is 528 miles, from the Vosges to Cape Saint Mathieu at the ex- 

 tremity of Brittany. The total area is estimated at 207,170 square 

 miles, including the island of Corsica, which comprises 3,367 square 

 miles. The coast hne of France extends for 384 miles on the Mediter- 

 ranean, 700 on the North Sea, the Strait of Dover, and the Channel, and 

 865 on the Atlantic. The country has the advantage of being separated 

 from its neighbors by natural barriers of great strength over the greater 

 part of its frontier, the Pyrenees forming a powerful bulwark on the 

 southwest, the Alps on the southeast, and the Jura and the greater por- 

 tion of the Vosges Mountains on the east. The frontier generally follows 

 the crest hne of these ranges. Germany possessed both slopes of the 

 Vosges north of Mont Donon, from which point the northeast boundary 

 is conventional and unprotected by nature. France is geographically 

 remarkable for its possession of great natural and historical highways 

 between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean. The one following 



■* These data are furnished by the service geographique de I'armee, except where 

 otherwise noted. See Appendix, p. 495, for data on Alsace-Lorraine, now restored to 

 France. 



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