THE EESERTED FOURTHS. 261 



in accordance with the second clause of section 127, which is 

 of entirely special application, and is couched in the following 

 terms " Inthe fellings made in the Reseroed Fourths the nuraber of 

 trees to be reserved shall be 24 at least and 40 at most per acre." 



It must not by any means be understood thereby that these 

 figures refer to the total number of standards of all classes. They 

 apply only to standards of the first class excluding those of all 

 higher classes, whatever their number. This point has been clearly 

 established by M. Bagneris in his Manual of Sylviculture in which 

 he expresses himself thereon as follows : — 



" It has been argued from the word ' tree' in the clause in ques- 

 tion, that the number fixed includes standards of all classes. Now, 

 ia the first; place, Section 137 does not say so. It overrules only the 

 first clause of Section 70, the only one which lays down the number 

 of standards to be preserved. In the second place, by the expres- 

 sion ' first-claSs standards' (baliveaux de Vage) is generally under- 

 stood individuals of the same age as the underwood from which 

 they are selected for preservation. Now Section 140 provides that 

 the portions which comprise the Reserved Fourth of a communal 

 forest, ought not, as a general rule, to be cut except when in a de- 

 caying state, that is to say, when every indinidual has become a 

 tree in the ordinary acceptation of the word. Being necessarily un- 

 able foresee at what age cuttings would be made in each case, 

 the legislator employed the word ' tree,' by which must be under- 

 stood individuals of the same age as the underwood, without any 

 reference whatever to the standards of the other classes fixed by the 

 second clause of Section 70. It would besides be absurd to main- 

 tain that the legislator has shown less solicitude for the Reserved 

 Fourth than for the ordinary cuttings ; and it would be just as reason- 

 able to assert that because the first clause of Section 137 does not 

 specify that first-class standards alone are meant, therefore, the 

 number ' not less than 40 and not more than 50' includes equally 

 veil all classes of standards. This contention has never been raised". 



As the Forest Code refrained from prescribing the rearing of 

 the Reserved Fourths as high forest, it was expedient for the Royal 

 Edict promulgating the Code to enforce the selection of the stan- 

 dards with a view to growing them as high forest over coppice. If 



