262 THK EESERVED POVRTHS. 



it can be of some importance to the inhabitants of a Commune to 

 receive a large quantity of firewood in their annual supply from the 

 produce of the regular fellings, it is always a matter to be desired 

 that the Reserved Fourths should produce chiefly timber. The 

 various classes of timber are what can alone satisfy in a direct 

 manner the extraordinary requirements of the Communes, j ust as 

 they constitute the chief value of the cuttings. 



There are just a few communal forests, the Reserved Fourths 

 of which are stocked with broad-leaved species and are in the state 

 of high forest. In most of them the predominating tree is the beech, 

 which in one or several compartments forms crops of poles and some- 

 times even of high forest trees. In such woods reproduction from 

 the stool would be unsatisfactory both on account of the species 

 concerned and of the age of the standing crop. It would thus be an 

 operation extremely to be deplored if we were to work them by 

 tire et aire or as copse : the result would be the deterioration and 

 even the ruin of the canton. Now pole crops of beech allow of 

 fairly severe and very productive Thinnings being made in them* 

 Repeated frequently, as extraordinary wants arise, such Thinnings 

 would each time yield a considerable quantity of produce, and this 

 up to the age of fertility, i. e., up to, say, from their sixtieth to 

 their seventieth year. Thereafter seedlings would begin to 

 make their appearance on the ground ; and the moment this took 

 place, the extraordinary wants of the Commune could be met to 

 their fullest extent and without compromising reproduction by 

 means of Secondary Fellings repeated at short intervals, should 

 those wants so require. 



If the adoption of the High Forest method of treatment neces- 

 sarily postpones the realization of produce, can this be urged as a 

 prohibitive objection against it? It is true that if we have to wait 

 30 years at least before exploiting a copse, we must wait double that 

 time before attempting to regenerate a high forest crop. But, on 

 the other hand, this latter yields from time to time, at short inter- 

 vals, accessory produce and, in the end, an outturn of higher value 

 than that of coppice fellings renewed at short dates. Only, it is 

 necessary that Forest Officers alone should have authority to pro- 

 pose the Thinnings to be made, both in order to improve the stand- 

 ing crop and to provoke the appearance of seedlings, objects the 



