370 JOURNAL OP FORESTRY 



A considerable proportion, from 20 to 30 per cent, of those less than a year old 

 were killed on all except the lightly grazed plots, where only 6.5 per cent were 

 lost." 



"After their third year a very small proportion of seedlings, less than 1 per 

 cent per year, is killed by grazing of moderate intensity ; that is, by grazing 

 close enough to utilize practically all of the palatable forage." 



"Very few seedjings were browsed on the experimental areas on bed grounds 

 used for one night only. However, if sheep are driven back to the same bed 

 the next night, or at any time before a full new crop of foliage has sprung up, 

 the damage by browsing is almost always very serious, as there remain only the 

 least palatable forage plants and the conifers. On bed grounds used for sev- 

 eral times in succession every green leaf is removed, and even the bark of 

 saplings up to several incties in diameter is gnawed off. For like reason similar 

 conditions prevail along driveways used for several bands of sheep." 



4. Amount of damage and amount and character of forage: "The quantity 

 of palatable forage on a given area may affect the amount of damage done in 

 two ways. If the total quantity of feed is too small for the number of stock 

 allotted to the area, there will probably be considerable browsing injury and 

 more injury from trampling than if there is abundant feed so that the sheep 

 need not wander around looking for it. On the other hand, whether the allot- 

 ment as a whole has ample forage for the allotted stock or not, the injury due 

 to trampling, which causes most of the deaths of small seedlings, is likely to be 

 greatest on those parts of the allotment where the amount of palatable forage 

 is greatest. The reason for this is that the sheep will spend more time where 

 forage is abundant than where it is scanty." 



5. Valuation of damage: "Table //, which shozvs the number of seedlings 

 per acre actually present on the plots on all three allotments in the spring of 

 1914, indicates plainly that there was sufficient reproduction present to make a 

 full stand in spite of grazing injuries. On areas as well stocked with repro- 

 duction as those covered by the study the comparatively small amount of scat- 

 tered injury which results when the stock is carefully managed can hardly be 

 said to represent a tangible loss of value." 



"Where the number of seedlings present is already insufficient to make a full 

 stand at maturity, or where injuries are concentrated, as on trails, bed grounds, 

 or very seriously overgrazed areas, so as practically to eliminate all reproduction 

 over a continuous area of any considerable size, there is a loss." 



6. Benefits of sheep grazing to the forest: Aid to reprodiiction ; "The value 

 of sheep grazing in helping tree reproduction to start is frequently overesti- 

 mated." It does result in more abundant germination under certain conditions, 

 viz., in case of heavy grazing on poor sites where the soil was so dry and lack- 

 ing in organic matter as to be very unfavorable to reproduction, but the sheep, 

 bedding in the same place for severa,! successive nights, left a thick layer of 

 mulch, so that seedlings not only germinated in greater numbers, but grew 

 much more vigorously than those on the lightly grazed plot. Light or moderate 

 grazing did not have this result, and on sites naturally favorable to reproduc- 

 tion even close grazing may not result in greater germination. 



