"allocation of I'ELLINGS. 113 



dally practical work of the Am^nagiste. We have seen that the limits 

 of age, between which a forest may be profitably exploited, some- 

 times include within them an interval of a great many years. 

 We can, in a certain measure, exploit early or late, without ceasing 

 to obtain from it the same class of produce as, although it may be 

 of slightly inferior quality to, what we might have obtained by 

 removing the standing material precisely at the right time. A high 

 forest which is required to furnish the highest sum of utility it can 

 yield, may be exploited at any moment between the time when its 

 trees have just attained the first class dimensions of commerce and 

 the age at which they begin to decay, A simple copse worked as a 

 commercial investment may be exploited a few years early or late, 

 according to the fluctuations of the market, or in consequence of 

 accidental circumstances, or even on account of the necessity of 

 having to observe the Rules for locating coupes. We may» 

 therefore, always satisfy all the conditions of the Exploitability 

 adopted and at the same time conform sufficiently closely to the E,ules 

 for locating coupes. Besides, each of these Rules may hava in 

 certain cases its own special influence in regulating the order 

 of the exploitations. 



The First Rule relates primarily to the successive order of the 

 cuttings to be made, and only secondarily to their form. It directs 

 that aU coupes shall belaid out on the ground in the successive order 

 in which they are exploited, and be given the most regular form 

 possible. Now nothing could be more simple and natural than to 

 have the cuttings following each other on the ground in unbroken 

 succession, in the order of their respective dates. Such regularity 

 not only secures most important cultural advantages, but without 

 it the other Rules for locating coupes could not be observed. It 

 ensures the exercise of effective control and supervision over the 

 felling operations, which are then concentrated over a manageable 

 area, at the same time that its effect is, by necessarily keeping the 

 woodcutter at a distance, to protect the growing crops. It is the 

 best guarantee we can have that every crop is given the full time 

 it requires for its complete development, since the exploitations 

 cannot return to or near any point until they have successively 

 passed through the whole of the rest of the Working Circle. The 

 necessity of this Rule becomes glaringly obvious in those forests 

 where it has becu neglected. The worst disadvantages inherent in 

 15 



