308 FORESTRY IN FRANCE. 



CHAPTER VI. 

 THE PRIVATE WOODS AND FORESTS OF FRANCE. 



Those woods and forests which are neither state nor communal property belong princi- 

 pally to private proprietors, of whom the number is very great, but also partly to civil, re- 

 ligious, commercial and other societies. Their extent varies of course from year to year, ac- 

 cording as clearances are made for cultivation, or planting work is undertaken. No very 

 exact record of the area is available, but the latest figures show it to be 23,657 square miles, 

 or about two-thirds of the total wooded surface of France. It is probable that at the present 

 time the private woodlands are being somewhat added to, rather than reduced, for it is be- 

 Ueved that the areas annually planted up or sown exceed in extent those which are cleared. 

 The private forests are not entirely free firom state control; while at the same time they are 

 protected by the legislation almost in the same manner and to the same extent as are the state 

 and communal forests. For instance, private owners, in common with the government and 

 the communes, enjoy the power to firee their forests from wood rights by making over a por- 

 tion of the ground to the right-holders in lieu thereof. Grazing rights can only be exercised 

 in those parts of them which are declared by the forest department to be out of danger firom 

 the entrance of cattle, and the number of animals can be limited with reference to the supply 

 of grass, while no right can exist to graze sheep or goats in them. Owners have also the 

 power to free their forests of all rights, except those of wood, by the payment of compensa- 

 tion ; and, speaking generally, it may be said that they have the same protection against 

 injury to tlieir property by right-holders as is enjoyed by the state and the communes. The 

 law also places them in the same position as regards the punishment of forest offenses, in- 

 cluding trespass by persons carrying cutting tools, cattle trespass, and the lighting or carrying 

 of fire in or near the forests, with a claim to damages for injury caused. Proprietors can ob- 

 tain for their forest guards, if they have them regularly sworn in, the same powers for the 

 protection of their property as are exercised by' the state and the communal guards. 



On the other hand private owners cannot cut down and clear their forests without notify- 

 ing their intention to do so at least four months beforehand, and the forest department can, 

 with certain exceptions, successfully oppose the clearance if the maintenance of the woods is 

 desirable on any of the following grounds, viz. : 



1. To protect mountain slopes. 



2. To protect the soil from erosion, and to prevent encroachments by rivers, streams or 

 torrents. 



3. To preserve springs and water courses. 



4. To protect coasts against erosion by the sea and the encroachments of moving sand. 



5. For the defense of the national frontier. 



6. For sanitary reasons. 



The minister of agriculture decides whether the clearance may be made or not. Between 

 the years of 1828 and 1884 sanction has been accorded to the clearing of 1,795 square miles 

 of private woodlands, but there is no record showing what proportion of this area has actually 

 been cleared; and it is known that sanction is sometimes obtained merely to give an enhanced 

 value to the property by the removal of restrictions on it. It is worthy of remark, however, 

 that while the average area of which the clearance was annually authorized during the whole 

 period above mentioned amounted to 20,160 acres, the average during the last ten years was 

 5,404 acres, and. during the last five years it was only 3,731 acres. These figures seem to 

 show that woods are acquiring an increased value in Fr.ince, and that they are cleared for 

 cultivation to a less extent than formerly. 



It has already been said that there is a special law relating to the forests of the Maures 

 and Esterel, where fires are systematically lighted in order to get rid of the injiuious under- 

 growth, and that under it private proprietors in those regions are only permitted to light forest 



