234 ] SELECTION OF STANDARDS. 



rate of more than two-fiffchs of au inch in diameter per aunum, so 

 that they measure a good 40 inches when one hundred years old. 

 We have seen sold for £40 the bole of an ash 41 inches in diameter 

 and still comparatively young. Analogous cases may be cited 

 respecting trees belonging to all our large forest species. Thus it 

 is not the actual diameter that a standard has acquired, but the 

 ■ state of its vegetation, which ought to decide whether it should be 

 felled or preserved. It hence follows that every operation for the 

 selection of standards involves considerable powers of appreciation, 

 even in woods belonging to private proprietors. 



Moreover, the reservation of large trees has not only the single 

 advantage of increasing the income derivable from a torest. These 

 trees, since they would, as a rule, be felled at the next exploitation, 

 must on that occasion, be the best guarantee that the standards of 

 the third class will be respected : when old veterans are not to be 

 found in a coupe, it rarely happens that trees in full growth and 

 still vigorous are not felled in their place. 



Again, large trees standing in an exploited coupe protect 

 against the wind standards of the first and second classes, which 

 would otherwise not unfrequently be irremediably ruined. Lastly, 

 they simplify in every exploitation the selection of the standards 

 to be reserved, and assure that operation being well conducted 

 merely from the fact that they render unnecessary the reservation 

 of numerous standards of the first class, which can attain their full 

 value only in a comparatively distant future, after passing through 

 all the risks to which growing trees are exposed ; such standards 

 only harm the underwood with their low cover, and rob it of its 

 best stools. Hence it is an excellent rule to follow, in selecting 

 the standards, to reserve the finest specimens of every species 

 whatsoever, for the forester cannot fail to appreciate the other 

 trees according to their real merits. 



A few words will suffice to serve as a conclusion to what we 

 have just said on the subject of the selection of a reserve over 

 copse. We possess in France 3,750,000 acres of State and com- 

 munal copses, the majority of which can furnish the most choice 

 produce, viz., oak timber of large size. Two-thirds of this area be- 

 long to Communes, and must remain for a long time yet, if not for 



