RECENT PUBLICATIONS ON SWISS FORESTS. 203 



100 square miles of original forest, only 21 per cent, is now 

 under trees; the figures given for Britain are, England 5 "3 per 

 cent., Scotland 4*6, Wales 3-9, Ireland 1-5. That is, they are 

 the least afforested lands in Europe. What woods are left in 

 England are regarded as more natural and less altered than in 

 Switzerland. This backward condition of English forestry is 

 ascribed to the conservatism of the English landowner and the 

 preponderance of sporting rights under private ownership. In 

 Switzerland little original forest is left, and the woods are 

 radically altered by a system of intensive forestry. The forests 

 in the Middle Ages were used quite as much for grazing as for 

 the production of timber ; thus oak-woods were encouraged as 

 they provided mast for herds of swine. Gradually, however, 

 the increased demand for timber and the promotion of forestry 

 have resulted in the closing of the forests against grazing animals, 

 and the oak has been largely replaced by beech and spruce. 

 In the most recent times, pure plantations of conifers have 

 decreased, and there is a return to the establishment of mixed 

 woods. 



The greatest competitors of forest both in Switzerland and in 

 Britain are grassland and moorland, because the climate and 

 topography are favourable to these types of vegetation. The 

 utilisation of these is, however, different in the two countries. 

 The Swiss grasslands at lower levels are intensively manured 

 and provide the chief forage for stock in winter; at higher 

 altitudes the " Sennhiitte " system of pasturing dairy cows and 

 cattle on the high alpine meadows involves intensive grazing 

 and encourages a valuable type of pasture, yielding large 

 returns. In Britain cattle-grazing from the old hill-shielings 

 has given place to the black-face sheep wandering at large 

 over extensive areas, and this does not favour grassland to the 

 same extent. Our uplands are thus much less productive; as 

 grazing grounds their value is not high, but what grazing there 

 is, combined with heather burning, has proved a most effective 

 means of destroying all tree-seedlings on our moors. 



One feature remarked by the Swiss writers is the lowness of 

 the upper tree-limit in Britain. This comes about 2000 feet 

 with Scots pine and birch on mountain masses like the Cairn- 

 gorms, and is lower on the less elevated groups or on long 

 hill-ranges. In Switzerland Scots pine rises to 4300 feet on the 

 Northern Alps and to 7600 feet in the Puschlav area of the 



