22 INTEOCyCTION. 



we possess a collection of iadigenous arboreal species that are as pre- 

 cious for the qualities of the timber they produce as for their variety. 

 Thanks to the soil and the climate, no less diverse than the species, 

 we are able to obtain from the latter produce that is at the same time 

 abundant, choice and varied. The more we study our forests, the 

 more we marvel at their productive capabilities. They possess vast 

 potential wealth. Ours the duty of assuring its preservation and 

 development. 



The task before us is not of the easiest. In the north-west 

 are situated the principal high forests of broad-leaved species ; in 

 the North-east the large mass of copses with standards as well as the 

 great forests of silver fir ; then in the southern half of France 

 forests of all species, the treatment of which is subordinated to the 

 requirements of grazing. This last class of forests includes a con- 

 siderable area consisting only of glades or scattered trees, and in 

 many places they are of less value as regards the production of wood 

 than on account of the influence they exercise on the climate, the 

 soil, and the drainage and storage of water derived from the clouds. 



If we leave out broad general characteristics, there are a number 

 of districts which possess forests of an entirely special character. In 

 the north of France and on the banks of the Adour, peduucled 

 oaks, raised in the midst of, and above, copse underwood or in open 

 high forests, are distinguished by their great size and the density of 

 their wood. In the French Ardennes copses of pure oak cover the 

 whole area occupied by primary geological formations or about 

 50,000 acres, and yield some agricultural crops under a special 

 system of cultivation following immediately each coppice cuttin<r.(i) 

 In the Morvan, the oak and beech copses, instead of being exploited 

 so as to clean-fell each clump of stool shoots, are worked on the 

 system known asfvretage, according to which the exploitations are 

 made on a rotation of 10 years and remove only the thickest shoots 

 of a clump. 



In the west, in the neighbourhood of Alengon, side by side with 

 the finest regular high forests of beech and oak, like those of 

 Bell^me, Ave find the most irregularly wooded masses, like that of 

 Perseigne, and others extremely impoverished by the Coppice 



(1) Sartage—An improved aystom of Daliya, Kumri or^ Jhooming. See Mamul 

 of Sylviculture, 



