FORESTRY IN FRANCE. 285 



as they must be made to the extent which is judged necessary in order to develop the trees 

 which are left. The forester's art is to do this skilfully, and ultimately to remove the old 

 trees in such a manner that they may leave behind them a young self-sown crop to take their 

 place, and so on throughout successive generations. 



For a high forest to be managed under the selection method the arrangement is different. 

 Here it is, of course, equally necessary that all the age-classes should be represented in due 

 proportion, but instead of the trees or poles of each class being grouped together in separate 

 compartments, all classes are mixed indiscriminately over the entire area of the forest, and 

 there is thus no necessity for the formation of affectations, or compartments, of the kind just 

 described. After the main features, such as the streams, ridges and roads, have been laid 

 down on the map, the temporary plots, and the descriptions of them are made as before. 

 The forest might, in the present case, be divided into three sections, the upper of which being 

 on the crest of the hill, is required to be kept as dense as possible, and will not be dealt with 

 in the working plan, as dead or dying trees alone will be removed from it. Suppose that the 

 annual yield of the central section, which is 150 acres in extent, has been fixed with refer- 

 ence to the estimated rate of growth and degree of completeness of tRe stock, at 50 cubic 

 feet per acre, and that trees of marketable girth within it contain on an average 100 cubic 

 feet of timber, it follows that the number of such trees which may be removed annually 

 from the section is "°,^„°° = 75. Theoretically this number should be taken one ihere 

 and one there over the whole area; but this would, be very inconvenient, so the forest is 

 divided into twelve or any other convenient number of equal or nearly equal blocks, from 

 each of which, in succession, the entire number of trees is to be cut ; after taking windfalls, 

 the choice falls on the ripest trees, those which are dead or dying being selected first. The 

 section below the road is in another zone of vegetation; it is 100 acres in extent, and its an- 

 nual yield is calculated at the rate of 60 cubic feet per acre. Suppose, then, that the trees of 

 marketable girth contain on an average no cubic feet of timber, the number of such trees to 

 to be cut annually is '°iro°° = 54- '^^ section will then be divided into blocks, from 

 each of which in snccession the entire number of trees is taken. In this manner-each zone 

 of altitude may be dealt with on its own merits, while, at the same time, the annual fellings, 

 being localized, are easy to supervise, and the wood can be disposed of more readily and 

 more profitably than if the trees had been felled here and there over the entire area. The 

 working plan for a forest under conversion would, of course, differ from any of the above ; 

 but this somewhat complicated question will not be dealt with here. It is Only by an arrange- 

 ment similar to one of those above briefly sketched that a permanent annual yield of a particu- 

 lar class of produce can be assured, and that the forest can be secured against the risk of 

 gradual extinction. 



A special branch of the forest department is charged with the preparation of working 

 plans, which are not made by the local officers, except in the case of small forests, the plans 

 for which they can frame without interference with their ordinary duties; but they undertake 

 the revisions, which are made every ten or fifteen years in order to guard against errors, and 

 to allow for changes in the rate of growth, or other causes of disturbance. Pending the 

 preparation of such regular plans the forest department draws up provisional rules, which 

 must accord with local usages, where these are not opposed to the recognized principles of 

 sylviculture. Up to the beginning of 1877 regular working plans had been completed for 

 more than two-tliirds of the total area of the state forests, and for somewhat less than one- 

 half of the communal forests. The work progresses more slowly in the latter than in the 

 former, because in their case the funds have to be provided by the communes, and the money 

 is not always available ; but as a matter of course the most important forests were taken in 

 hand first, and these have for the most part been completed. 



The question of working plans has only been dealt with above in an extremely superficial 

 manner. In order to gain anything like a complete idea of the systems pursued in France 

 the following works should, among others, be studied, viz.; "Am^nagement des forets," by 



