198 France. 
Only 15 per cent. of the forest area is coniferous, 18 
per cent. mixed conifer and broad-leaf forest and 67 per 
cent. pure or mixed broad-leaf forest. Of the 227 mil- 
lion acres hardly more than one-third, belonging to 
state and communities, are managed under working 
plans. The larger area is under coppice. According to 
the official publication Statistique forestiére, by A. Mat- 
thieu, giving the details of the public forests for 1876, 
the following relation of the different types of forest 
management existed in these forests. 
Seed Under 
Forest Conversion Coppice Pastures 
State forests, per cent... .45 30 20 5 
Communal forests, do... . .30 1 67 2 
Total, per cent....... 36 10 51 3 
Three-fourths of the communal and less than one- 
fifth of the state’s seed forest is managed under selection 
system. Combinations of farm and forest culture (sar- 
tage and furetage) are still quite extensively practised. 
The production of saw-timber under these practices is 
naturally small. Of the 40 cubic feet of wood per acre 
only 10 cubic feet are saw-logs and if the private forests 
were taken into consideration, the average product, on 
the whole would appear still smaller, the private proper- 
ties being mostly small, poorly managed, and largely cop- 
pice. Neither the owners, nor their managers and 
guards have, as a rule, any professional education, 
although the means of obtaining it exist in the schools at 
Nancy and Barres. 
At present the administration of the state forests is 
under the Minister of Agriculture as President of the 
Forestry Council, with a Director-General as Vice Presi- 
