These general facts and studies, indispensable in the case of every 

 forest without exception, whether they are detailed or take a broad 

 general view of the forest, whether they head the report or are 

 implied and understood, lead one, so to say, on to the very thresh- 

 old of the Organisation Project. Accurately observed And carefully 

 thought out, they guarantee the proper carrying out of the prescrip- 

 tions vfhich are to regulate the treatment and the exploitation of 

 the forest. lucorrectly noted or carelessly worked out, they make 

 room for all kinds of errors, even of the most grave character, a 

 circumstance which cannot but render defective some portion of the 

 Organisation Project, or be an obstacle to its proper execution. 



As regards our Course, this Book is perhaps the most importan t 

 part of it Once the student has gone, methodically and with a 

 thorough understanding of the facts, through the practical work 

 which it describes, his mind will be able to take in at once the whole 

 subject of Forest Organisation, the various combinations, rules and 

 principles that enter into it becoming perfectly clear to him. W e 

 will even go further and say that we do not fear to assert that it is 

 almost impossible to acquire a full and complete knowledge of any 

 forest without possessing both a theoretical and practical know- 

 ledge of the operations described in this the Second Book. And 

 this is the reason why we have therein entered into an exhaustive 

 and detailed account of those operations. 



The Third Book treats of the general features of the Working 

 Plan for high forests. With reference to the subject of a sustained 

 yield in the State Forests, we have established the fact that it is 

 often expedient to subordinate it to the treatment applied and to the 

 requirements of the future, because every year it becomes more and 

 more clear that it ought to make way for the savings that must be 

 effected in order to enable these forests to yield the most useful pro- 

 ducts, viz. large timber, the scarcity of which is already felt in France. 

 Moreover, the raethod of Forest Organisation by Area is described 

 here in the same spirit in which it has always been taught at the 

 Forest School ; but, thanks to a more intimate knowledge of facts 

 since acquired, we have been able to separate it from purely 

 theoretical considerations and to place it before the student in an 

 entirely practical light. 



The study of the organisation of regular high forests, which is 

 more complete in itseK and, all points considered, more naturalthaa 

 of that of copses, is the best beginning to make in the theoretical and 



