10 



Yet to-day the forests are in better condition than ever before, and 

 under the present system of management it is possible for the German 

 foresters to say Avith absolute certainty that the high yield and large 

 returns which the forests now give will be continued indefinitely 

 into the future. ' 



FHANCE. 



France has not quite 18 per cent of forest — three-fifths of an acre 

 per capita. This is enough to produce only one-third of the home 

 demand. The country imports annually $30,000,000 worth of wood, 

 and pays $6,000,000 duty and $10,000,000 freight for it. This wood 

 comes from Eussia, Sweden, Norway, Austria-Hungary, Germany, 

 and America. Of the 23,500,000 acres of French forests the State 

 owns 2,707,000, and the Departments and communes 3,472,000. Since 

 1827, when the forest code was passed, the State and communal 

 forests have been under management. The State forests yield a 

 clear profit of $4,737,250 a year, or $1.75 per acre; $0.95 is spent for 

 the management of each acre ever}^ year. 



The best managed State forests yield about 40 cubic feet per acre 

 a year, which is low compared with the yield of some other European 

 forests, such as those of Prussia, Saxony, or Wlirttemberg, 



The great achievement of France in forestry has been the estab- 

 lishment of protective forests where much destruction had been 

 caused by floods and winds. From various causes large areas were 

 cleared of forests toward the close of the eighteenth century, and 

 only when it was too late was it realized that these lands were not 

 fit for agriculture and should have been left in forest. To repair 

 the mistake, a movement to reforest began in the nineteenth century. 

 It was an exceedingly expensive mistake. Down to the present 

 time, encouraged by wise laws, the State, the communes, and private 

 landowners have restored to forest over 2,500,000 acres, and so saved 

 them from ruin. In addition, the resulting forests return an excel- 

 lent revenue. 



Two-thirds of the torrents of Europe are in France. In the Alps, 

 the Cevennes, and the Pyrenees mountains there are 1,462 brooks 

 and mountain streams which are considered dangerous. Nearly a 

 million acres of mountain slopes are exposed to erosion by these 

 streams, to say nothing of the flat land below. 



As far back as the sixteenth century there were local restrictions 

 against clearing mountain sides, enforced by fines, confiscation, and 

 corporal punishment. In the main these prevented ruinous strip- 

 ping of hillsides, but with the French Revolution these restrictions 

 were swept aside and the mountains were cleared at such a rate that 

 disastrous effects were felt within ten years. By 1803 the people 

 had become aroused to the folly of this cutting. Where useful brooks 



[Cir. 140] 



