284 FORESTRY IN FRANCE. 



soil, &c., but also on the use to which they are to be put. Thus, a coppice being required to 

 yield wood of small size only, may be cut every twenty-five to forty years ; whereas a high- 

 forest, which is destined to produce large timber, must stand for a much longer time. It would 

 be excessively inconvenient if the entire crop of such a forest were felled only once in every 

 100 or 150 years; and it is chiefly to avoid this that a working plan is required, which pre- 

 scribes the arrangement necessary in order to allow of the produce being taken out annually, 

 without intermission and in equal quantities, so that a regular and sustained income may be 

 drawn from the forest. For example, a simple coppice thirty acres in extent, of which the crop' 

 is to be felled at the age of thirty years, might either be entirely cut down at one time; and then 

 allowed to grow up again for thirty years ; or, which would be found much more convenient, 

 it might be divided into thirty one-acre compartments, each of which is to be felled in suc- 

 cession, so that by taking one plot each year, the whole area would be worked over in thirty 

 years. The working plan must then, in the first place, prescribe the age at which the trees are 

 to be felled, with reference to the average number of years that they take to arrive at maturity, 

 or to attain the required size ; and it must then fix the yield, or the amount of wood to be 

 annually removed, tMs quantity being expressed either in the form of an area to be cut over, 

 or a number of cubic feet of wood to be taken out. But in the case of a high-forest managed 

 under the selection method, it is sufficient to fix the number of trees of a minimum size to be 

 cut out annually. 



The provisions of a working plan vary according to the nature of the forest to which it 

 relates. In the case of the simple coppice instanced above the first thing to do would be to 

 obtain a map showing the principal features of the ground, such as the edge of the plateau, 

 the stream, and the road. The area would then be broken up, for purposes of examination 

 and description, into temporary plots, each plot comprising a portion of forest more or less 

 homogeneous in its composition. This study of the crop would enable the area to be divided 

 into the thirty permanent compartments above alluded to, and it would also determine the 

 order in which they should be numbered, so that the older portions might be cut first. It is 

 evident that if one of these be cut every year the series of compartments will, after the lapse 

 of thirty years, contain forest of all ages, fi-om one to thirty years; and if the annual felling 

 be invariably made in the oldest compartment, it is evident that the age of the crop cut will 

 always be thirty years. 



To make a working plan for a regular high-forest, to be treated by successive thinnings, is 

 not quite such a simple matter. If the forest is of great extent, it is, first of all, divided into 

 two or more series or sections, each of which is dealt with separately. After the examination 

 and description of the temporary plots the section is divided into a number of equal compart- 

 ments called affectations, and when the ground has once been completely worked over the 

 crop on each of these will always be within certain limits, in the same stage of development, 

 and subjected to the same kind of treatment. Thus, if the trees are to be felled at the age of 

 1 20 years, and there are six compartments, the sixth may contain the young growth, aged 

 from I to 20 years; the fifth young poles from 21 to 40 years old, and so on ; the first con- 

 taining the old trees which are to be felled. The compartments having been formed each of 

 them is then subdivided into compartments usually corresponding in number with the years 

 over which the fellings within it are spread (twenty in this case), and, while the trees are 

 being cut in the first compartment clearings and thinnings of various recognized degrees are 

 going on in the compartments of the others, until each in its turn arrives at the age. at which 

 the trees are to be removed ; and it is clear that in this case also the forest will ultimately 

 contain a due proportion of trees of all ages, from i to 1 20 years, which is an essential condi- 

 tion. The working plan prescribes the order in which all this is to be done, and it lays down 

 the number of cubic feet of timber of the oldest class which are to be taken out annually 

 from the first or oldest compartment, so that the entire stock on it may be removed within the 

 first period of twenty years, windfalls and dead or dying trees being always taken first; 

 each of the remaining compartments is similarly dealt with when its turn to be felled arrives. 

 The quantity of wood to be removed by thinnings cannot be prescribed by the working-plan. 



