FORESTRY IN FRANCE. 279 



but also with regard to their coppicing power, their effect on the soil, and other matters. 

 Trees of light cover, generally speaking, coppice better than those of heavy cover, but the 

 latter have a much greater effect than the former in improving the soil. 



It is estimated that the 35,464 square miles of woods and forests yielded the following 

 produce in 1876, viz.: 17,896,227 loads {50 cubic feet) of wood of all qualities, 321,741 tons- 

 weight of tanning bark, 2,556tons-weightof cork, and 31,539 tons-weight of resin ; the whole 

 being valued at ;^9,47I,0I7. The average production of wood was therefore 39 cubic feet 

 per acre ; and the gross revenue, omitting that on minor produce, which was very small, was 

 equal to 8s. 4d. per acre. But, in addition to this, it is calculated that the isolated trees, not 

 grown for the sake of their timber, and vines yield together three and one-half million loads 

 per annum, valued at ;^i ,000,000 ; so that the total production of wood in France is raised to 

 about twenty-one and one-half million loads, and the value of the wood, bark, and resin to 

 about ;if 10,500,000. This gives the amount of wood and the money value of the forest pro- 

 duce per head of the population as. 29^ cubic feet, and 5s. 9d. respectively. 



Of the twenty-one and one half million loads of wood produced, about four million loads 

 were timber and the rest firewood. The latter sufficed for the national requirements, but the 

 former was far from doing so ; for the imports of wood of this class exceeded the exports by 

 2,062,432 loads, valued at ;^6,4o8,ooci — that is to say, that it was less than two-thirds of the 

 amoimt required. The question of foreign timber supply is, therefore, a very important one, 

 even for France, which has 1 7 per cent, of its area under forest. 



CHAPTER II. 

 FORESTS MANAGED BY THE STATE FOREST DEPARTMENT. 



The forest law of 1827, which is still in force, confirmed the previous legislation, under 

 which all woods and forests which form part of the domain of the state, all those which, 

 being the property of communes or sections, or of public institutions, are susceptible of being 

 worked under a regular system, and finally all those in which the state, the communes, or 

 public institutions possess a proprietary right jointly with private persons, are administered 

 directly by the state forest department in accordance with the provisions qf the forest law. 



The areas thus administered at the commencement of 1885 were as follows, viz.: 



Square 

 Hectares. inile.s. 



State forests 1,012,688 = 3,910 



Communes, sections, and public institutions 1,967,846 = 7.S98 



Total 2.980,534 = 11,508 



These figures, which include the dunes, represent about ij4 per cent, of the entire area 

 of France, and nearly one-third of the total wooded area. An additional 144 square miles of 

 barren land had, up to the end of 1884, been purchased by the state in connection with the 

 project for the consolidation of bare and unstable slopes on the great mountain ranges ; and 

 this area is also administered by the department under the forest law. About 40 per cent, of 

 the state forests are situated in the plains, while the rest of them, together with nearly the 

 whole of the communal forests, are found in about equal proportions on low hills, up to an 

 altitude of 1,700 feet, and on the higher mountain ranges. About one-half of them stand on 

 limestone rock, 92 per cent, of their entire area being actually under wood. 



The principal object of the following pages is to sketch in a brief and summary manner 

 the system of management adopted for these forests, so that some general idea may be formed 

 of what the business of the French forest department consists in, and what the results of their 

 labors have been, up to the latest date to which information is available under each head. 

 The organization of the professional staff of the department, and the manner in which it is 

 recruited, will then be explained. 



