274 



RECENT AFFORESTATION WORK IN FRANCE. [Dec. 1895. 



giving a mean of 476 francs per hectare as the cost of restoring 

 the slopes of the mountains to their former condition.* 



It may be remarked in passing that there is no reason why 

 under ordinary conditions a hectare of land should not be 

 planted for 100 francs, so that these tv/o important works have 

 imposed a pecuniary burden of nearly five times the ordinary 

 amount upon the Budget of the Forest Department. 



Putting the financial results in brief, the total production of 

 the State forests in the year 1892 amounted in value to 

 26,153,600 francs. The average production per hectare, taking 

 into account only the forests properly so called, was in material 

 3 • 046 cubic metres, equal in money value to 29 * 29 francs per 

 hectare, say 12 francs per acre per annum, or a little under 

 10s. This, however, is a mean value which is yearly altering 

 for the better. The State forests, which have been for a long 

 time under a course of systematic management, such as those 

 in the Departements of the Nord, Yosges, Maine et Loire, fee, 

 yield rather more than 5 cubic metres per annum per hectare, 

 or a money value of more than 50 francs per hectare, say 

 16s. 8d. per acre. And there are exceptionally fine forests, 

 chiefly of sapin (Ahies pectinata), for each forest has its own 

 history and financial results, which yield far more than this. 

 But the comparatively recent plantations of the Gironde and 

 Landes, and the still more recent forest operations in the Basses 

 and Hautes Alpes, entered upon, as we have seen, for reasons 

 of policy, yield but little, and thus Ibwer the average. It 

 happens, moreover, that in the year 1892 the forest revenues 

 were not fortuitously swelled, either hy the cuttings which 

 take place every three or four years, or by what are called 

 " extraordinary cuttings," which are made when ordered. This 

 will be recurred to later on, for it is very important, in estimating 

 the value of the work of any Government Department, to 

 regard the maintenance of capital value, as well as the showing 

 of annual returns. 



The forests belonging to the communes and public bodiesf 

 occupy, as has been said, about 25 per cent, of the forest area of 

 the country. This is equal to 1,917,630 hectares, which do not 

 include such a large proportion of waste and unproductive lands 

 as we have seen to exist in the State forests. They yielded in 

 1892 a revenue of 33,055,100 francs and, again, taking into 

 account for the purpose of comparison only forests properly so 

 called, we find that the yield per hectare was in material 2"594 

 cubic metres, and in money value 17 fr. 89 c, a little over 

 7 francs per acre, or something under 6s. The superiority then 

 of the returns of the State forests is well marked. The products, 

 which they furnish, are at the same time more considerable and 



* It is interesting to note that as soon as the young woods are planted nature 

 resumes its sway, and covers all the intervening soil with a thick herbaceous 

 growth. 



f The communal forests. 



