80 PHYSICAL CIRCUMSTANCES. 



The taxes and contributions levied on the forest and other 

 expenses incurred on account thereof also require a short reference, 

 followed by estimates or proposals of various kinds. 



Frequently the administrative circumstances of a forest are 

 exceedingly simple and may be summed up in a few words on the 

 constitution of the property, its history and management. The 

 facts to record in that case are obvious and well-known ones. But 

 sometimes, on the contrary, the questions to be considered are of 

 quite a special character, such as undivided property, heavy pre- 

 scriptive rights, civil suits, public servitudes, want of an outlet, and 

 other facts of the first importance, which cannot be mastered with- 

 out laborious study, and which at times even require an immediate 

 solution before the work of organising the forest can be taken in 

 hand. 



The simple suggestions which precede suffice to indicate the 

 lines to follow in describing the administrative circumstances of any 



given forest. 



§ 2. Physical Circumstances. 



The general study of the climate, the soil and the component 

 crops of a forest is by no means simply a resum^ of the detailed 

 description of the compartments. It is rather the synthesis of that 

 analysis, so formed as to give a clear idea, unencumbered with 

 diffuse details, of the forest considered as a whole. Thus this 

 study gives a picture of the forest sketched out in broad lines so as 

 to bring out in bold relief its general condition. 



In describing the climate, the first thing to note is the situation 

 cf the forest, i. e., whether it lies on level, undulating or hilly ground, 

 whether it forms a portion of one or several river basins, at what 

 height above the sea, or above and below the surrounding country 

 it is. The names of plains, hills, mountains, rivers, &c., should be 

 expressed, whenever possible. After this the climate is qualified, 

 from the point of view of temperature, by one of the five terms of 

 the scale adopted for France. It is hot, mild, temperate, cold or very 

 cold according to the species found indigenous in the locality and 



