226 GOVERNMENT REGULATION AND WORKING PLANS 



From the American viewpoint it is interesting to note that the areas 

 covered by each working group in France are usually small — 1,000 to 

 1,300 acres — but it should be emphasized that this is due to the in- 

 tensive economic conditions. In France a small valley may supply a 

 lumber-jack village in the mountains with its sale of logs essential to 

 the continuance of its waterpower sawmill. If this valley is 15 to 20 

 miles from a railroad, up a steep grade, the cost of obtaining the neces- 

 sary local supply of lumber from a large producing center would be pro- 

 hibitive. Without steady work during the winter months, when farm- 

 ing is impossible, the laborers would have to migrate or give up their 

 home life. These conditions often explain the small working groups, 

 which cost more trouble and money to establish, but which hold the 

 local population. For parts of New England it is the ideal which public 

 forests should strive to imitate, but it must be admitted that the more 

 working groups there are, the more difficult and complicated is the log- 

 ging, since the sales must be smaller. 



According to the teaching at Nancy "the solid base of the whole 

 management structure, the indispensable criterion of its precision, the 

 incessant guide of administration, the necessary means of the control of 

 operations and of the results obtained" is the compartment sub-division. 

 Under intensive conditions this is usually between 15 and 40 acres in 

 area and, unless soil quality varies greatly, the compartments in one 

 forest do not vary greatly in area. An important exception is where 

 the regulation is by area and where to obtain a nearly equal annual cut 

 it is necessary to increase the size of compartments, where the poorer 

 soil gives a smaller yield per acre. The main criticism of compart- 

 ment boundaries, as found in French State forests, is that they are some- 

 times too artificial. The soil, exposure, logging roads, ridges, valleys, 

 canals, and railroads should all govern the shape and boundary of the 

 compartment, but usually the boundaries in hilly country should be per- 

 pendicular to the logging road to facilitate logging. The so-called 

 "etoile," so common in level forest subdivisions, is more important from 

 the scenic or shooting viewpoint than from the standpoint of logging. 



Rotations and Cutting Cycles. — The rotations are based on the object 

 of the owner and are determined by technical, silvicultural, economic, 

 or financial considerations as limited by silvicultural possibilities. Ac- 

 cording to Fernow a rotation is "the time through which the crop is 

 allowed to grow normally until cut and reproduced." 



The viewpoint in India as expressed by D'Arcy ^^ is contrary to the 

 European conception of rotation, except in selection forests in France: 

 "the exploitable age of a forest crop is the age at which the individual 



2« D'Arcy, W. E. Preparation of Forest Plans in India. Calcutta, 1898, 3d edition. 



