354 THE AMERICAN FOREST ENGINEERS IN FRANCE 



in"^the pine and fir forests of central and eastern France, but not as a 

 rule in the hardwood forests where the close utilization of fuel wood left 

 practically nothing but small twigs. In cutting hardwood coppice 

 special precautions had to be taken to leave smooth, rounded stumps 

 which would shed water and prevent decay injurious to the new crop 

 of sprouts. 



Restrictions upon the Amount of Timber Cut. — The most serious 

 restriction from the standpoint of effective logging was the limitation 

 on the quantity of timber which could be removed from many forests. 

 In the southern pineries, following the forestry system of the region, 

 the timber was cut clean and the requirements imposed were compara- 

 tively simple. In the hardwood forests and the softwood forests of 

 the eastern mountains only trees selected and marked by the French 

 foresters could be cut. These usually comprised from 15 to 40 per 

 cent of the actual volume of merchantable timber. In the State and 

 communal forests of the Vosges and Jura, containing many fine areas 

 of fir and spruce timber, cutting was restricted to a limited number of 

 "coupes" which were ready for felling under the exact methods of 

 management applied by the Waters and Forests Service. Blocks of 

 mature timber would be withheld, for example, because the regeneration 

 of young trees was not sufficiently advanced. 



As the result of constant pressure by the American representatives 

 in the interally organization, the markings in these forests were often 

 extended to include from five to ten "annual possibilities," that is, from 

 five to ten times the quantity permitted to be cut in one year under the 

 plan prescribed for the management of the forest in question. All the 

 timber marked, however, was restricted to trees which could be removed 

 properly from the stand Jjoint of maturity and the generation of the 

 next crop. As a matter of fact French forestry practice is so conserva- 

 tive that many of these forests carried an excessive amount of old timber, 

 and cuttings of this character and extent were not injurious from a 

 purely technical standpoint. The most extreme illustration of the 

 strict application of French forestry requirements occurred in a few 

 large, rich forests where the cutting of but a small fraction of the mer- 

 chantable timber was allowed, this being restricted mainly to windfalls 

 or thinnings. 



The usual forestry rules were departed from in the case of many 

 private forests which had been requisitioned or whose owners were 

 favorable to a heavier cut than would ordinarily be permitted. On a 

 few large hardwood areas such special concessions allowed the removal 

 of as much as 80 per cent of the merchantable material. 



Meeting French Foresters on Their Own Ground. — The officers who 

 represented the American Army in the negotiations with the French 



