this book, the result of extended sojourns in 
the forests of France, are to be found data con- 
cerning all phases of forestry work in France, 
together with authoritative facts and figures 
supplied the author by various members of the 
French Forest Service. Those desiring to 
acquaint themselves with forestry in France 
will find this book a mine of information. 
THE FORESTS : 
OF FRANCE 
Some years ago an eminent American fores- 
ter, Dr, B. E. Fernow, described forestry as ‘‘an 
art born of necessity.” France is an apt illus- 
tration of this epigram. If there is any one 
who doubts the need of a nation’s making pro- 
vision for the future through the proper man- 
agement of its forests, that person particularly 
would do well to study the history of forestry 
in France. To repair the effects of past errors 
that country has had to pay in the expensive 
school of experience. We in America can profit 
by her example. 
France is favorably situated for the growth 
and development of forests. In general there 
is ample precipitation and while in parts of 
the country the winters may be cold, there is 
a long growing season. Further, France has 
A TYPICAL PRIVATELY OWNED COM- 
MUNITY SAWMILL, VOSGES MOUNTAINS 
the advantage over her northern neighbors of 
a greater number of trees of commercial im- 
portance. Two especially to be noted are the 
maritime pine and the cork oak, for while re- 
stricted in distribution both are of high eco- 
nomic value. Chestnut is also important in 
parts of the country. But from the forest stand- 
point the outstanding point about the favorable 
climate of France is, natural reproduction is 
easily secured and consequently the problems 
of forest management are materially simplified. 
The total area of France is approximately 
204,000 square miles. Of this 18.7 percent is 
under forest, an insufficient proportion to sup- 
ply the needs of the country, so France is one 
of the timber importing nations. It is there- 
fore of the first importance that every avail- 
able corner of waste land be put to use in grow- 
ing forest. But it is to be observed as one trav- 
els across France on the main lines of railroad, 
he sees from the car window little of what we 
in America would term waste land. The im- 
pression rather is of an intensively cultivated 
agricultural country. This is frankly a super- 
ficial observation but it is borne out by a para- 
graph from one of the two chapters by Col. W. 
B. Greeley, which form a part of Major Wool- 
sey’s book. Col. Greeley says: 
“Intensive use of a limited land area to sup- 
port her dense population is forced upon France. 
The situation would be paralleled if a third 
of the people in the United States were crowded 
into an area somewhat smaller than the state 
of Texas. At the best, France must import a 
large volume of wood products. France has 
had to strike a close balance between her needs 
for lumber and her needs for farm crops and, 
notwithstanding the number of mouths to be 
fed, has had to devote a considerable acreage 
of agricultural land to timber production. In- 
tensive methods of growing successive crops of 
timber form a necessary part of her national 
economy.” 
FOREST REGIONS 
OF FRANCE 
The forest regions of France fall into two 
broad divisions, the plains and the mountains. 
On the southwest the Pyrenees form the frontier 
with Spain; on the southeast are the Alps, and 
on the east the Jura and the Vosges mountains. 
There is also high land in the central plateau. 
The plains subdivide into three parts: The 
Parisienne zone, sloping to the north and west; 
the Gironde zone in the southwest of France, 
sloping to the west; and the Provencale zone, 
bordering the Mediterranean. This latter re- 
gion, especially in its eastern part, is hot and 
dry. In its vegetation as well as general char- 
acter it reminds one strongly of southern Cali- 
fornia, which resemblance is further borne out 
by the tourist resorts along the Riviera, or, as 
they like to call it in France, ‘“L’Cote d’Azur.” 
As is to be expected, the forests of the moun- 
tain division are largely of coniferous species, 
silver fir, Norway spruce, some larch, and in 
places pine; Scots at the lower elevations, moun- 
tain and cembric at higher altitudes. The best 
fir forests in France are found in the Jura and 
in the Vosges mountains. At the lower eleva- 
tions of the mountain regions, where the foot- 
hills break into the plains, are beech, oak and 
hornbeam. Various topographic subdivisions 
are recognized in the mountain divisions, with 
corresponding differences in the composition of 
the forest. 
The plains division is larger in area than the 
mountains division, the Parisienne zone alone 
covering more than half of France. Here the 
broadleaf trees predominate, although in places 
conifers have been introduced artificially. Oak, 
beech, hornbeam are the important species. 
Here are found the forests that produce the 
large sized and exceedingly valuable old tim- 
ber. While managed essentially as a park, the 
Forest of Fontainebleau contains many oaks of 
this sort, as well as much fine beech. Oaks oc- 
cupy 27.5 percent of the forest area of France. 
There are two important species, the sessile and 
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