286 FORESTRY IN FRANCE. 



C. Broillard, Berger-Levrault, Paris, 1878, and "Am^nagement des forets," by A. Puton. A 

 translation of the latter work has appeared in vols, viii and ix of the " Indian Forester." 



PRODUCTS OBTAINED FROM THE FORESTS. 



The yield in wood of various classes having once been fixed by the working plan it is the 

 business of the department to realize it as nearly as circumstances will permit. As to tanning 

 bark, all that the felled trees or poles will yield is utilized. Cork bark is taken from the liv- 

 ing trees, which will not bear the removal of a too large proportion of their protecting cover- 

 ing, and hence care has to be taken not to overwork them. Resin is collected on a large 

 scale in forests of the maritime pine {Jinus maritima), which only yield it freely on the hot 

 and damp coasts of the southwest. 



The yield of minor produce, such as grass, moss, litter, and other things, being small, and 

 details regarding it not being available, this class of products cannot receive more than a 

 passing mention. Neither can account now be taken of the numerous advantages which the 

 forests undoubtedly render to the population, but which cannot be expressed in the bulk or 

 weight of the products drawn from them. 



The latest available statement of yield relates to 1876, in which year the state and com- 

 munal forests taken together gave 5,620,663 loads (50 cubic feet) of wood, or an average of 

 about 40 cubic feet per acre ; also 50,742 tons of tanning bark, 292 tons of cork bark, and 

 1,967 tons of resin. 



. The yield of wood per acre of the state forests somewhat exceeded that of the communal 

 forests ; but while, in explanation of this, it must be said that the greater extent to which 

 grazing is practiced in the latter affects their wood production unfavorably, it must also be ad- 

 mitted that a large proportion of their produce is made over to the inhabitants for tlieir own 

 use, and that this is estimated at a low figure, so as to reduce, as far as possible, the charges 

 against them on account of management by the forest department ; and the apparent difference 

 is largely due to the latter cause. Of the total yield in wood 1,364,846 loads were timber 

 and 4,255,817 loads were firewood; and, as might be expected from what has been said 

 before regarding the different systems of culture adopted, the state forests gave the larger 

 proportion of timber, one-third of the wood from them being of that class, while in the case 

 of the communal forests the proportion of timber was only one-fifth. A still more striking 

 result would follow a comparison of the nature of the produce obtained from the state and 

 from private forests ; and since timber is a more useful and valuable product than firewood 

 the advantage to the country, from this point of view, of considerable areas of forest land 

 being owned by the state is apparent, and the more so when it is remembered that France 

 does not grow more than two-thirds of the- amount of building-timber that she consumes. 



The communal high-forest is for the most part situated in the mountains, and is composed 

 of coniferous trees, which explains the fact that the greater part of tlie timber derived from 

 the communal forests is fir and pine, whereas only about one-third of that coming from the 

 state forests is of those kinds. 



SALES AND EXPORT. 



Principal produce [wood, bark and resin). — With the exception of the produce made 

 over to right-holders, and of that delivered to the inhabitants of the communes from their 

 forests for their own consumption, as well as of comparatively small quantities of timber cut 

 in the state forests for the war department and admiralty, the whole of the annual produce is 

 sold by public auction, and no other mode of sale is permitted. There are three principal 

 .systems of disposal, viz.: First, sale of standing trees; second, sale at a rate per cubic meter, 

 or other unit of the produce, cut, converted and taken out by the purchaser ; and third, sale 

 of produce cut and converted by departmental agency. The first of these systems necessi- 

 tates a previous marking, either of the trees which are to be removed, or of those which are 

 to be reserved. There is no guarantee given either as to the number of trees, or as to their 

 species, size, age or condition ; but they are bought and sold on the best estimate that either 



