282 FEATURES OF FRENCH NATIONAL FOREST ADMINISTRATION 



tective cover for such species as beech so as to prevent damage. Frost 

 cracks, frequent in hardwood forests, let in rot and result in eventual 

 damage. Quick changes of cold are most dangerous and apparently 

 are more so on a sandy soil than on clay, clayey hmestone, or peat. 

 The damage is accentuated with thin barked trees. 



Damage by Sunscald and Drought. — Thin barked trees, especially 

 when young, suffer from exposure to the fall rays of the sun. It is for 

 this reason that severance cuttings are sometimes necessary; these are 

 merely "the clearing of a narrow strip on the border of a young stand" 

 to accustom the bark to the full intensity of the sun. 



In the forest of Saint Antoine (Vosges), there were at least eighty red- 

 topped fir trees in one working group killed by the unusual drought of 

 1911. It is of rather frequent occurrence to see spruce which has been 

 rocked by the wind die from drought because the root systems have 

 been weakened by having the rootlets lose contact with the soil. The 

 damage was less with the selection system than with the shelterwood. 



Snow Damage. — Snow damage can best be controlled by early, 

 frequent, and correctly executed thinnings. The most resistant French 

 species against snow damage in the high mountains is the cembric pine. 

 A recent (1911) snowslide ^* below Mont Blanc overturned 23,000 trees 

 which brought only 12 francs per cubic meter for logs and 3 francs per 

 cubic meter for cordwood. This avalanche was started by a block of 

 ice''^ and, had not immediate removal of the timber been planned, it 

 would have resulted in the starting of insect damage on the area de- 

 stroyed. The actual physical damage by the avalanche itself was 

 650 feet wide but the wind pressure on each side of the snow extended it 

 325 feet on one side and 650 feet on the other; in places the total damaged 

 area was more than 1,640 feet wide. 



Intensive Fire Damage. — In most sections of France there is compar- 

 atively little danger from fire, the most dangerous portions, as might be 

 expected, being in the conifer ^^ and brush forests of the South where 

 the summers are hot and dry. French fire protection is most intensive 

 in the Maures and I'Est^rel because of the resulting damage and because 

 the locality is an important tourist center where it is very essential that 

 forest conditions be maintained in order not to damage the important 

 pleasure grounds of the C6te d'Azur between Toulon s' and Monte 



" A method used by French foresters to prevent avalanches on steep slopes is to cut 

 stumps 3 to 5 feet high above the soil in order that the stumps may hold the snow and 

 prevent the starting of snowslides. 



25 Most of the damage was due to the unnd caused by the avalanche and not by the 

 snowshde itself. •' 



26 For lightning damage there is, apparently, no prevention. 



" The best center for studying intensive protection is from St. Raphael. In the 

 maritime pine forests of the Landes the student should go from Bordeaux to some center 

 like Arcachon or Mimizai), 



