64 The French Imperial School of Forestry. [Jan., 



describe the soil, climate, and position of each forest, the treatment 

 to which it has been subjected, and the effects of the operations 

 performed therein, praising the good and condemning the bad. The 

 students take notes, which are to aid them in writing a memoir on 

 returning to Nancy. 



For the second object, the Professor of Natural History accom- 

 panies the school, and gives notes on all the geological formations 

 which present themselves, and also on the different plants which he 

 directs the students to collect. These are such as are found in 

 forests generally, or which denote the presence of some particular 

 soil. The effects of the ravages of different insects, with their 

 modes of life, &c, are also pointed out. 



On returning to the Forest School, a general memoir of this 

 tour is made, and each student arranges his herbarium, labels being 

 affixed to the specimens, denoting the place and date of finding, 

 together with the class, family, genus, and species. 



After all this has been finished, come the examinations for the 

 end of the year. In these, questions can be put on any part of the 

 course of lectures as well as of the practical course ; or the student 

 may be required to give a description of any forest visited, or to 

 state where he has seen any particular fact illustrated. Marks are 

 given for the examination itself. To these are added a proportion 

 of those gained in the examination at the close of the lecture session, 

 as well as of those for the exercises done in the practical course, and 

 thus the place in the class-list for the year is determined. 



The examinations are finished by the middle or end of August, 

 when the vacation, which lasts until the commencement of November, 

 begins. 



In the second year, lectures are delivered on the same four 

 classes of subjects. 



Those on Sylviculture commence with a revision of the first 

 year's course, and go on to describe the " Amenagement " of a 

 forest. The " Amenagement " forms the basis of the management 

 of each forest, giving, in fact, the plan on which it is worked, 

 regulating the thinnings and clearings to be applied to it, the age 

 at which the wood should be cut, and the amount that can be cut 

 yearly without endangering the existence of the forest. 



Perhaps the best idea of the meaning of the word "amenage- 

 ment," of which there is probably no exact equivalent in English, 

 will be gathered from the following definition given in the course at 

 the Forest School : — 



" L'amenagement d'une foret est une operation qui consiste a 

 regler le mode de traitement et les exploitations de cette foret en 

 vue des besoins du proprietaire et de la consommation," which may 

 be anglicised thus : — The amenagement of a forest is an operation 

 which consists in regulating the mode of treatment and the cuttings 



