MANAGEMENT SUBDIVISIONS 225 



(3) By volume, which is supple, difficult to calculate, requires short 

 periods between working plan revisions and frequent inventories and is 

 somewhat dangerous, since it is apt to lead to overcutting if the growth 

 is largely overestimated. 



(4) By area and volume, a combination of (1) and (3). This is the 

 modern method of regulation except for coppice stands which can usually 

 be regulated correctly by area after making suitable allowances for soil 

 quality (see page 232). 



Management Subdivisions. — The great lesson in a study of the 

 details of European forest management is that in dealing with nature 

 perfection is impossible. Regeneration is usually not complete; there 

 are windfall and insect attacks to throw out yield calculations and create 

 disorder silvically and financially. Until the forester learns this lesson 

 he cannot create proper pictures of the future forest, especially if he 

 follows the ideal of natural regeneration, which will usually be the rule 

 in the United States for some years to come. 



In systematizing the cut or in regulating a forest there are two kinds 

 of management work: (1) ''Preliminary work . . . the study of 

 physical conditions, growth, and the economics of exploitation. (2) 

 Essential work . . . the regulation of felhng." 



After deciding on the classes of product desired, based on the local 

 or general industrial requirements (see "Rotation," page 226), and the 

 system '-^2 ^f silviculture necessary to the objects of the State (see Chapter 

 V) the first important step in the systematic management of a forest is 

 to form so-called management ^^ subdivisions, for without these no 

 yield regulation is possible. Management divisions rest fundamentally 

 on two bases: (a) silvicultural systems and (b) economic units. A priori, 

 simple coppice is not mixed with high forest but forms separate sections; 

 these sections are then formed into working groups "destined to form 

 distinct economic units with distinct cutting cycles and a sustained 

 yield." Whether a section is divided into one or more working groups 

 or whether the working group may comprise one or more sections de- 

 pends on the size of the section and the economic conditions. Usually 

 in France the section of high forest in State forests forms more than one 

 working group and the section of coppice only one. This is immaterial 

 to our consideration of the subject of French pubHc forest regulation. 



22 In France there is always a presumption in favor of the former method of treat- 

 ment which is the result of centuries of evolution. A change in treatment involves 

 financial sacrifices and has usually been brought about by a change in market, which 

 would justify a conversion from coppice to high forest, or an error in the original choice 

 of treatment through failure to secure natural regeneration. 



23 French administrative subdivisions built up from the beat, the forest, the canton, 

 the inspection and the conservation are not treated in detail (see Chapter X, p. 273). 



