384 



French Forestry. 



tered with a view to permanent improvement, the actual 

 revenue derived from them being limited, during the first 

 twenty-five years at least, to the value of the thinnings. 



In spite of the tracts, estimated at i8 per cent, of the 

 entire State forests, still in their initial unproductive stage 

 or incapable of yielding any return, the annual yield of wood 

 is nevertheless 35' 7 5 cubic feet per acre of State forests, just 

 exceeding the 35*32 cubic feet from the same area of depart- 

 mental and other public forests, although these latter have 

 only about 3 per cent, of such young plantations. The yield 

 from the private forests is, however, somewhat greater^ 

 amounting to 44-7 cubic feet. In these valuations no deduc- 

 tion has been made for the areas which are still in the 

 unproductive stage, or for those which, from the nature of the 

 ground, or for any temporary reason, etc., are incapable of 

 yielding any return. If account is taken of the produce from 

 profitable areas only, the excess of the yield in the State 

 woods over the departmental and communal woods is more 

 marked, and the value per acre still more so. No return has 

 been made of the unproductive area of private woods, and, 

 although the annual money value of the yield per acre of 

 private woods considerably exceeds that from the State 

 woods (calculated on their total area), and is about double that 

 from the departmental woods, it would appear that the areas of 

 State forest actually in full yield give a return per acre of 

 higher value than that from the productive areas of private 

 woods. 



Although an increase In the forest area of France has been 

 recorded during the decade 1882-92, this gain is nevertheless 

 wholly in the area administered by the Government ; the 

 woods in the hands of the departments, etc., and of private 

 owners, both showing a slight decline. The augmentation 

 of the State woods is to be chiefly attributed to purchases on 

 the part of the Government for re-afforestation in mountainous 

 districts ; increases in these woods during the decade being 

 noted particularly in the Alps and Pyrenees. The progress 

 of the State woods during the decade also appears from the 

 fact that there Avere, in 1892, 484,000 acres of "recent 

 woods,'' as against 64,000 acres of similar land in 1882 : much 



