696 UTILIZATION OF LEAVES, TWIGS AND ROOTS. 



countries where meadows are scarce, as in those adjoining the 

 Mediterranean Sea, or where the peasantry is poor, and land 

 much subdivided, is leaf-fodder important ; also in years of 

 general scarcity of fodder, as in 1893. Except in such cases, 

 the usage of leaf-fodder should be banished from forests. In 

 countries where rice is cultivated, young leaves and twigs are 

 stamped into the inundated fields to serve as manure (Japan). 

 [Also in India, for rice-nurseries, under the well-known name 

 of rab. Tr.] Twigs of both broadleaved and coniferous trees 

 are used, in the cultivation of flowers and vegetables, as a 

 shelter against insolation and frost, also in forest-nurseries. 

 Branches, with autumnal coloured foliage, or with coloured 

 fruits, or coniferous branches with cones, are used for 

 decorative purposes. 



From the needles of pines, spruce and silver-fir, oil is 

 distilled ; wood-wool, said to be made from pine-needles, is 

 made of sea-grass (see Part III). 



The branches of conifers are employed extensively as litter. 



Green litter is obtained from standing trees, either from the 

 ground bv dragging down the branches, or by climbing the 

 trees and lopping them ; or by using the litter from felled 

 trees. 



The most destructive method is practised in the Tyrolese 

 and Swiss Alps. Iron hooks on long poles are used for 

 pulling down and breaking off the branches. In other 

 countries the men climb the trees with the help of climbing- 

 irons and lop the branches with a hatchet. Where the future 

 of the forest is cared for, only stems that will soon be felled 

 according to a working- plan are lopped from the base up- 

 wards, in the course of a few years. If no care is taken of the 

 forest, trees are lopped frequently of all their branches up to 

 the leader. The simplest and least harmful practice is to lop 

 the branches from felled trees in the regular felling-areas. 



The branches thus obtained usually are carted to the farm- 

 yards, and cut into small pieces on a block with a sharp hatchet ; 

 all the wood that is more than a finger thick is set aside for fire- 

 wood and the remainder used for litter. If the branches from 

 a regular felling-area are to be used for litter, the workman 

 takes each branch and cuts off the twigs covered with needles, 



