EEGIME 35 



cially the latter, there must necessarily be included sub-classes 

 founded on difference of size. Thus we have large timber fit for 

 all great works, split wood, boards and scantlings, large and small 

 rafters, wood for the wheelwright, and last of all simple poles. 

 Now in high forests of broad-leaved species the outturn of timber 

 forms two-thirds and never less than a half of the total yield, the 

 proportion of large timber alone being about one-third of that 

 total. Thus with High Forest worked on long Rotations it is possible 

 to obtain yearly and per acre, under only average conditions of 

 fertility, twenty-eight cubic feet of timber, all oak and beech, of 

 large dimensions. ^ The high forests of Blois and of Belleime yield 

 this figure under such conditions. We see here the chief and pecu- 

 liar merit of the High Forest Regime. 



As Simple Coppice yields, at the very best, only small timber, no 

 ' better than firewood in respect of age and size, we may be allowed 

 to ignore-it completely in the present discussion. Coppice with 

 Standards is capable of furnishing timber of all sizes, small, medium 

 and large. The total quantity may be very different according to 

 the various forests ; but it is always smaller than that yielded by 

 High Forest, in which Rdgime the production of such timber is 

 sought from every square inch of the soil. If we consider only large 

 timber, the comparison is still more unfavorable for the Coppice 

 Regime, for a considerable number of the standards, with crowns 

 isolated above the underwood, are subject to premature decay. A 

 copse with standards, situated on soil of average quality, would cer- 

 tainly be considered as yielding extremely good results, if it produced 

 5 cubic feet of large timber per acre per annum. 



Actually our copses are, at the present day, very poor in large 

 trees, and neither their great extent nor the active growth of isolat- 

 ed trees is sufficient to compensate for the extreme paucity of the 

 standards. Moreover, this evil is beyond all present remedy where 

 the material, out of which a plentiful reserve could be formed, is 

 wanting. 



With, respect to its condition, wood, being an organised substance, 

 is either sound and well-shaped or decayed and mis-shapen. Of 

 little or no moment in the case of firewood, the condition of the 



(1) By timber of large diraeuaious we mean only trees measuring at least Hi 

 in diameter. 



