■256 THE RBSEEVED TOURTHS . 



Moreover, there is nothing to prevent the clearing and mainte- 

 nance of the boundary lines of the compartments, which should run 

 along natural features and be selected with a view to the easy ex- 

 port of produce rather than to give the compartments equal areas. 

 In a word, there is no measure for securing a well-ordered exploita- 

 tion, that is not compatible with the management of the communal 

 Reserved Fourths, if we except only the prevision of the epoch of 

 each felling and also its character, points which cannot, from the 

 very nature of the things concerned, be determined beforehand. 



The question of a well-ordered exploitation, of little account 

 when the Reserved Fourth covers only 25, 50, or 75 acres, acquires 

 a directly increasing importance with the area of the wood, and may 

 even sometimes become an absolutely necessary one, when the 

 Reserved Fourth is large enough to form of itself a veritable forest. 

 But, in that case, the number of the compartments is bound to be 

 large, the construction of roads or bridle-paths dividing off the forest 

 into compartments becomes a necessity, and, since the extraordinary 

 cuttings are naturally made more frequently, any order fixed for 

 them in the Descriptive Statement can be soon established on the 

 ground, if the Executive Forest Officer only takes the trouble to 

 observe it. The result of this is, that the working of the forest be- 

 trays all the characteristics of a regular organisation, only a single 

 essential element being wanting, viz., the prevision of the extent of 

 the exploitations. 



We give below an example of a Descriptive Statement of a 

 Resei-ved Fourth. 



