CHAPTEE IV. 



METHOD OF FOREST EXPLOITATION IN FRANCE, ENJOINED 

 IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY, AND 

 KNOWN AS " LA METHODE A TIRE ET AIRE." 



In view of the devastation of forests which had taken place 

 by the middle of the seventeenth century, it was felt that, 

 to avert the devastation of the forests of France, and evils 

 which might follow in the train of such a catastrophe, not 

 only must the staff of administrators and officials be altered, 

 but the method of exploitation must be changed. 



From what has been stated in regard to the manage- 

 ment of forests in the maitrise, or mastership of Chinon, 

 [ante p. 17] it appears that there— and if there, probably 

 elsewhere — the forest, the area of which was 3400 arpents, 

 or acres, had been partitioned into 34 lots, to each of which 

 in succession ordinary fellings should be confined, and that 

 at that time it was a practice, in felling the trees on a lot, 

 to leave some standing to bear seed, by the dispersion of 

 which the wood might be replenished. 



In the passage which has just been cited, we find that 

 explicit directions on this point were embodied in the 

 Forest Ordinances of 1544, 1576, and 1579. 



The remedy for existing evils, and a preventative 

 measure adopted against greater evils following these, 

 was simply an improvement of this method of exploi- 

 tation, and the extension of the improved practice to 

 all forests. 



There may appear to us to be nothing very remarkable 

 in such a measure ; but thus has it been with discoveries 

 and devices innumerable, and the schoolboy who has not 

 long laid aside the garb of childhood may be heard to say 



