50 PROTECTION AGAINST MAN. 



Removal of leaves should not be permitted two years before 

 or after a thinning, and in the case of natural regeneration 

 there must be a^close-time for litter 4 8 years before and 

 after a seeding-felling. This, however, implies such a state of 

 decomposition of the soil-covering, that seedlings can strike 

 their tap-roots into the mineral soil. Wherever deep layers 

 of undecomposed humus prevent this, they must be removed 

 so as to expose the mineral soil. 



The most suitable time in Europe for removing litter is 

 on sunny dry days in September and October, shortly before 

 the fall of the leaf. This rule will require modifying where, 

 as in hot countries, some of the trees lose their leaves in 

 the spring. 



Iron rakes must not be used for collecting litter, as they go 

 in too deep and may injure the roots of the trees ; brooms also 

 remove too much litter. Only the uppermost undecomposed 

 layer of litter should be removed. Cutting and removal of 

 sods of grass with the roots must be forbidden. 



As regards moss, species otHypnum should be removed only 

 in strips during the spring, so that the regeneration of the 

 moss on the bare places may be facilitated from the strips left 

 untouched ; this happens, when the soil is fertile and moist, 

 in about six years. Then the old strips of moss may be 

 removed, and another six years left for the bare places to 

 recover, and so on. Species of Polytrichum and Sphagnum, 

 which generally grow in patches on wet soil, cause swamps 

 and are hurtful rather than useful, and can therefore always 

 be removed. 



Branch loppings for litter, best from silver-fir, should be 

 conceded only from felled trees or from those just about to be 

 felled. Sometimes it may be useful to allow grass, heather, 

 broom, bracken, etc., to be cut in young plantations, for use 

 as litter. The kind of implement to be used will depend on 

 circumstances. 



During removal of the litter, the forest must be carefully 

 watched, and wherever annual permission for litter is given, 

 a scheme should be drawn up, allotting the open areas for 

 successive years. 



By careful economy in the preservation and use of all 



