CHAPTER III. 



METHOD OF FOREST EXPLOITATION IN FRANCE FOLLOWED 

 TILL THE MIDDLE OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY, AND 

 KNOWN AS "JARDINAGE" OR " FURETAGE." 



That there was reckless waste of the woods and forests in 

 France through mal-administration and malversation on 

 the part of officials, in the middle of the seventeenth cen- 

 tury, seems to be beyond question ; but the system of 

 exploitation also was wasteful, and to secure the conserva- 

 tion of the forests it was deemed necessary that there 

 should be a change in this as well as in the staff of forest 

 administrators and subordinate officials, and in the admin- 

 istration, or management, of everything pertaining to the 

 forests. 



It has been mentioned that the forests were exploited 

 at that time, on a system of exploitation known as Jardinage 

 or Furetage. The method of exploitation so designated is 

 that which is generally followed in the management of 

 woods in England, and of forests in our colonies, — felling 

 a tree here and there, and leaving the others standing, — 

 and is called in French Forest Economy Jardinage, or gar- 

 dening, from its similarity to the procedure of a gardener 

 gathering leeks, onions, turnips, carrots, cabbages, or cauli- 

 flowers, — taking one here and there, not at hap-hazard, 

 but with some principle for his guidance — it may be to 

 thin them — it may be to gather in the mature, and leave 

 the others to grow ; and called Furetage, or ferreting, from 

 the similarity of the woodman's procedure in seeking out 

 what trees to fell, — to what is called from the conduct of a 

 ferret, ferretting out what is wanted when it does not at 

 once appear. 



