FRENCH FORESTS.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XLVI, Issue 7039, 15 July 1918, Page 4

FRENCH FORESTS.

As Defensive Barriers.

Some interesting facts regarding the suburban forests of faris, a number of which have lately come into prominence as defensive barriers blocking the advance of the German armies, are supplied by Mr D E liutcbin3, the well-known forestry expert. In his work on ' Australian Forestry, 'Mr Hutchins mentions the French forests as an example of the results good forestry makespossible. Within a 30-raile radius from Paris there are some 30 separate wooded areas, varying in size from a few hundred acres to State forests nearly 50,000 acres in area, such as ■Fontainebleau, Lyons, and Cocupiegne. It has been stated that Compies;ne is the third largest State forest of France. It is 36,000 acres in extent, and yieldd the State an average net income of £32,000 yearly. The trees are mainly beech and oak. Local tradition says that the oaks are the finest in Western Europe, a strain of peculiar excellence, so that people send from a distance to get the acorri3 for planting. Be that as it may, there is no doubt about the excellence of the oak trees in the forests of Compiegne and Fontainebleau, These forests were left unharmed by the Germans et the siege of Paris in 1870; but the Forest of Chantilly, which 13 nearer Paris, was badly damaged, and has not by now had time to recover. These three forests came within range of the recent German advance.