AXIMALS IXJUPJOUS TO LAECH. 255 



exposure to animals, &c., all contribute in determining 

 the kind and mode of protection to be adopted. Of 

 all trees in the forest, deer in rutting time inflict 

 most injury upon the larch by rubbing and barking 

 it with their horns. Perhaps the light airiness of the 

 branches, which are easily agitated by the least touch 

 or breath of wind, provokes and arouses the combative 

 propensities of the animal, and thus incites attacks 

 which a more rigid tree does not. 



After thirty or forty years old, larch plantations, 

 where the soil is dry, may be depastured with sheep 

 durmg summer; and even in winter they do no 

 damage, except that in severe storms they bark the 

 exposed roots, and hence must be excluded when the 

 latter circumstance is likely to occur. 



