36 FOREST REGIONS AND IMPORTANT SPECIES 



the increase in the price of sawlogs. This increase and decrease is typical 

 of almost all portions of Europe since the introduction of coal and the 

 scarcity of logs of large dimensions. Naturally it should influence the 

 silvicultural poUcy pursued. It means that high forest systems should 

 replace coppice and coppice-under-standards whenever local conditions 

 permit. The conversion is not always simple from the economic stand- 

 point on account of the demand of the communes for a steady revenue. 

 Conversions mean increasing the growing stock, an economy which com- 

 munes cannot always afford, because of their local needs for wood and 

 because of the money returns from auctions of timber which make taxa- 

 tion that much less. 



Alps. — According to Huffel * the Alps comprise 19,305 square miles, 

 one-fifth of which is forested; of this forest area nearly two-thirds is in 

 private hands and one-third communal — the remainder State forests, not 

 including areas under reforestation. The forests tributary to Nice have 

 typified systematic grazing devastation. The basin of the Durance is the 

 most devastated because drought has accentuated the evils of overgrazing 

 and overcutting, and the torrential rains have completed the damage. 

 The Department of the Basses-Alpes is only 18 per cent actually forested 

 (26.3 per cent classed as "forest") and on an average produces but one- 

 half a cubic meter (17.6 cubic feet) per hectare (2.5 acres) per year for the 

 area under "forest"; four-fifths of this production is firewood, equal to 

 about one-tenth cord per acre per year. It is only fair to say that most 

 of this area belongs to the commtmes, the State owning only a few refores- 

 tation areas. The basin of the Drome and the basin of the Isere and 

 Haute-Savoie have favorable climates and soil. The area is in the transi- 

 tion zone between the South (dry) Alps and the North (wet) Alps. Of 

 217,448 acres of communal forest, half the area is in high forest, a quarter 

 in coppice, and the rest blank. During the period 1877 to 1886 it pro- 

 duced only 1.9 cubic meters (67.1 cubic feet) per hectare per year, or a 

 revenue of 33 francs ($6.37), while the coppice production was 1 cubic 

 meter (35.3 cubic feet) or a revenue of 1.27 francs ($0,245), since the fire- 

 wood brought but httle return — a combined yield of about three-fifths 

 of a cord per acre per year. From the reforested areas of this region the 

 revenue is as yet nothing. Of the two important Federal forests near 

 Gap the forest of Durbon yields 1 cubic meter (35.3 cubic feet) or 10 

 francs ($1.93) per hectare per year, (77 cents per acre), and the forest of 

 Boscodon 2.5 cubic meters (88.3 cubic feet) or 30 francs ($5.79) per year 

 ($2.32 per acre). The larch forests of the Alps, Embrunais, and Brian- 

 gonnais are considered the most interesting. The forest of Mont- 

 Gen^vre at the source of the Durance, at an altitude of 6,235 to 8,200 feet, 

 comprises 2,281 acres of which 1,359 acres are forested. It is a high 

 « ficonomie Foresti&re, Vol. m, pp. 391-397. 



