FOKMATIOK OF COMPARTMENTS. 65 



The division of a forest into compartments serves various ends. 

 In the first place it enables the Am^aagiste to make himself 

 throughly acquainted with the forest. Secondly, it is useful to him 

 in drawing up an inventory of the forest. Thanks to this division, 

 he can calcidate or estimate the resources it offers as regards the 

 various qualities and descriptions of wood. Lastly and chiefly, with- 

 out it he could not determine the treatment adapted to, and the time 

 suited for, working out each of these portions of the forest, that is to 

 say, he could not draw up the Organisation Project itself. 



The way to set about dividing a forest into compartments is 

 not without some importance. It is necessary first of all to make a 

 general reconnaissance of the forest. You walk about through it 

 and round it ; you examine the boundaries and the boundary marks ; 

 you study the relief of the ground, the hydrography and the charac- 

 ter of the surrounding country. This reconnaissance gives a general 

 idea of the forest itself and its surroundings ; it affords some general 

 notions regarding the prevailing climate, soil and species, the condi- 

 tion and distribution of the standing material, and the situation of 

 the forest with respect to the neighbouring estates, to export lines, 

 centres of population and the district considered as a whole. More- 

 over it is by means of this reconnaissance* that we obtain general 

 starting points or laud marks, which furnish the necessary terms of 

 comparison in the subsequent detailed examination of the forest. 



These general notions once obtained, we proceed to the forma- 

 tion of the compartments. To that end we station ourselves at some 

 • known point, on the boundary, for instance, or at an angle or at the 

 point where a road enters the forest. Then guiding ourselves with 

 the aid of the Boundary Plan, we move along some fixed line ( the 

 boundary or the road, in the instances we have selected ), while 

 observing the standing crop and the ground, until some marked 

 change in one or both strikes the eye. At this point we turn to 

 .the right or left as the case may be, following the line along which 

 the observed difference between the two contiguous portions of the 

 forest (one to the right, the other to the left) is continued. Care 

 must be taken to keep our eyes chiefly on the portion which we 

 started with by examining, viz., the one the boundaries of which we 

 are trying to fix. Going on thus, winding along this line, which is 

 indicated to us by the age, density, component species and condition 

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