170 TIMBERS AND THEIR USES 



frontiers along the Pyrenees and Alps contain 

 72 per cent of the total area directly controlled 

 by the Forest Department. The forest pro- 

 prietors may not clear any forest lands without 

 a special permit from the President, while com- 

 munal forests can never be divided among the 

 inhabitants. Whenever a public body possesses 

 24-7 acres of forest, one-fourth must be kept 

 in reserve. This wise provision is in case of 

 emergencies or special demands on the funds 

 of the communes, such as damage by fire or 

 flood, or the building of churches or schools. 



These same pubUc reserves are tended by 

 guards selected with the approval of the forest 

 service, and the sale of timber and other produce 

 is made under its direction. " In fact, all the 

 operations of conservation and management are 

 carried out by it in return for a fixed tax. The 

 bulk of these forests are worked upon the plan 

 known as ' Coppice under standards,' the 

 basis of which is the cutting of the shoots or 

 sprouts which spring from the stumps of trees 

 at intervals of from 15 to 45 years. To secure 

 a fairly uniform annual return, the whole forest 

 if it be of small area, or each of its manage- 

 ment units, if it be a large one, is divided into 

 as many compartments of equal productive 

 power as there are years in the rotation fixed 

 for the coppices, and one of these compartments 



