“ SARTAGE” IN FRANCE. 97 
destroying seedlings:and young plants, and by partially car- 
bonising the surface of stumps; on the other hand, they, 
by the high temperature imparted to the soil, induce an 
abundant and remarkably vigorous growth of shoots; and 
another advantage of Sartage:is that the cereals afford 
shelter and protection to the shoots when young. 
Itis against. cold winds, much more than against the 
sun's heat, that it is of importance to have the shoots 
protected during the first two years of their growth. 
In the Ardennes it was customary formerly to leave 
standing around each felled and cleared portion of the 
forest a cordon of timber trees, which supplied to them 
protection and defence, and offered advantages superior to 
those following the Sartage @ few courant, inasmuch as this 
scarcely admits of the reservation of trees for a prolonged 
growth in the cleared part, and such are desirable for 
cover and for shade, even when they may not be required 
for the production of seed to be self-sown in the ground. 
But little by little these cordons have been used up, they 
have not been replaced, and since they have disappeared 
it has. been remarked,: principally on the plateaux, that 
the reproduction of coppice woods has become more and 
more precarious. To this destruction of these sheltering 
cordons, joined to the abuse of pasturing, is attributed 
without hesitation the great degradation and falling off 
of certain forests in that district. And for the lack of that 
shelter the culture of cereals in connection with Sartage 
is supposed to supply a remedy more or less efficient. 
Besides the Sartage a-few courant there is another mode 
of sartage called Sartage @ feu couvert, to which recourse is 
had when the ground. is covered: thickly with herbage, 
creeping plants, and turf. The soil is pared by means of 
a hoe, and of. the vegetable. product there are formed a 
number of little heaps to which fire is applied, and the 
ashes are scattered over the whole area of the ground 
which has. been. cleared, after which the procedure is the 
same, as has been detailed. 
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