ORGA.XISATIOX OF SIMPLE COPSES. 233 



dlvison of the Working Circle into natural cantons is the essential 

 point of departure in securing the best distribution and net-work 

 of export roads possible. 



The breadth to give to the division lines between the coupes 

 must vary with circumstances. Forty inches may be enough for a 

 line on which, owing to steep gradients, carts could not be used ; 

 while a width of 10 feet would allow of the easy passage of carts, 

 and 16 feet in most cases be as much as would ever be required. 



The direction in which the successive coupes should follow each 

 other is not without some importance, even in simple copses. In 

 each canton taken separately the cuttings should progress in the 

 direction opposite to that of cold or dry winds or, in exceptional 

 cases, opposite to that of winds which blow in a constant manner. 

 But it is easy to understand that this Rule for the location of coupes 

 possesses less importance here than anywhere else. Besides this, 

 the maintenance of permanent belts of forest fringing the outside 

 edge of the coupes is the best means of protecting them against 

 dangerous winds. 



The number of standards to reserve in any simple copse 

 must be prescribed by the Amdnagiste, who must also determine 

 what species alone shall be so reserved. In most cases oaks, ash and 

 birches are at once the most useful and the least hurtful of all our 

 species to preserve. Nevertheless it seldom happens that there is no 

 advantage to be gained by reserving a few individuals of all our 

 large forest species. As regards the dams^e resulting either from 

 the presence of cover overhead or from the loss of so many stools 

 due to the preservation of the standards, it is very slight as long 

 as the number of the standards does not exceed sixteen per acre. 



For communal forests the Royal Edict, under which the Forest 

 Code was promulgated, prescribes in a universal manner the reser- 

 vation per acre of from 16 to 20 standards of the second and higher 

 classes capable of growing on for another Rotation (Sections 70 and 

 134). The Compound Coppice Treatment is thus the rule for this 

 class of our forests, and the Simple Coppice method can only be 

 allowed under exceptional circumstances. These circumstances 

 should be fully described in every Organisation Project, which 

 proposes the adoption of Simple Coppice in forests belonging to 

 Communes, 



