PASTURE. 741 



pasture, therefore, at present prevails in forest countries that 

 are recently populated, in mountain -forest regions where the 

 climate is severe, and also in districts where landed property 

 is much sub-divided, 



Every settler in a virgin forest district seeks to increase the 

 growth of grass as much as possihle, and opens out the dense 

 cover of the trees for this purpose. The trees are girdled ; 

 fire, which traverses the forest annually, expedites the growth 

 of grass by destroying the forest and leaving a prairie in its 

 place. In America, Asia and Australia as in many localities 

 in Europe, the opening out and destruction of the forest is the 

 earliest mode of utilising it. 



Mountainous districts permit only of poor farming ; there, 

 crops of artificial fodder are scanty and the yield in straw is 

 insufficient for the winter's fodder-supply. Most mountainous 

 forest districts are in this plight. The less favourable the 

 conditions for agriculture, the more are the people driven to 

 cattle-breeding, and the more they value forest pasture ; in the 

 Alps and higher mountain-chains of the interior of Germany, 

 cattle-breeding and the production of milk and cheese are 

 the chief popular industries, and forest pasture far exceeds 

 silvicultural limits. 



Excessive sub-division of landed property is also a great 

 incentive to forest pasture. \Yhere the poor peasant hardly 

 possesses enough land to grow potatoes for his family, and 

 can scarcely manage to stack sufficient fodder for the winter 

 supply of his cattle, he will pasture them as long as possible in 

 the forest. 



4. Effects of Pasture on Forest Management. 

 (a) Advantages of Forest Pasture. 



In only a few cases does forestry gain any advantage from 

 pasture. These should not, however, be overlooked ; they 

 consist in the suppression of dense growth of grass and herbage 

 in regeneration-areas and plantations, in protection against 

 mice, and, to some extent, in keeping the surface-soil free for 

 the germination of seeds. 



There are many sheltered regeneration-areas with moist and 



