ALPS 37 



forest with a 150-year rotation and includes cembric pine, Scotch pine, 

 and larch. In the communal forest of Puy-Saint-Pierre, below Briangon, 

 the larch is managed on a 200-year rotation. In the aggregate the larch 

 forests of France comprise about 121,000 acres and are treated as regular 

 high forests, except when maintained purely for protection purposes, 

 when light selection cuttings are made. 



In the Haute-Dauphine there are several Federal forests in good con- 

 dition. The best known is the Grande Chartreuse, north of Grenoble. 

 Of the total of 16,061 acres 13,343 acres are productive. Before the 

 aboHshment of the monastery 368 acres were reserved simply as a scenic 

 forest. Since the separation of the church from the State this has been 

 added to the productive area and is now being conservatively lumbered. 

 The rotation is 162 to 225 years. For the period 1865 to 1905 the aver- 

 age production for the whole area of this forest was 1.8 cubic meters (53.6 

 cubic feet) per hectare (2.5 acres) per year, or 2.2 cubic meters (77.7 cubic 

 feet) for the productive areas (120 board feet). The gross revenue for the 

 whole forest during this same period was 17 francs ($3.28) per hectare per 

 year, or a net of 10.3 francs ($1.99) for the productive area, 20.5 francs 

 ($3.96) and 12.4 francs ($2.39), equal to $1.58 gross and 96 cents net per 

 acre per year. 



The Savoie comprises some 56,833 acres of forests; here the climate is 

 considered favorable and it is the best wooded part of the French Alps. 

 Six-tenths of the forest area is communal and the State owns but 1,483 

 acres — the forest of Belle Vaux above Thonon where the spruce pre- 

 dominates. A typical communal forest of this region is that of Vailly 

 opposite Lausanne on the Lake of Geneva. At an average altitude of 

 3,600 feet spruce is 50 per cent of the stand, beech 29, and fir 21. The 

 average revenue, 1886-1902, was 7.17 francs ($1.38) per hectare per year, 

 or but 55 cents per acre. 



It is significant that the proportion between fuel and logs is as 211 is to 

 110, where, as the working-plans officer says, the proportion ought to be 

 as 60 is to 100. 



Another interesting forest in Savoie is in the valley of Fier,^ near the 

 little village of Thones, comprising 321 acres. It shows what recovery 

 can be made when a forest is properly managed. The growing stock in- 

 creased from 54,000 cubic meters (1,906,956 cubic feet) in 1895 to 60,000 

 cubic meters (2,118,840 cubic feet) in 1900, notwithstanding the regular 

 annual cut. Wliile this forest is considered almost normal to-day, in 

 1840 the growing stock had been so reduced that the commune proposed 

 to open it to goat grazing, something that is rarely done except in the case 

 of brush land. The recovery which this region has made under French 

 forest management is a lasting tribute to the foresters of the Repubhc. 

 ^ Une Jolie Foret. A. Schseffer, pp. 1-4. 



