742 UTILIZATION OF FOREST HERBAGE FOR FODDER. 



rich soil, on which, after only a moderate admission of light, 

 such a strong growth of grass appears, that the woody plants 

 under it must be stifled if the herbage is not carefully removed. 

 It cannot he denied that in the Schwarzwald, the Harz, etc., 

 many young plantations and woods owe their existence to 

 cattle-pasture. Nevertheless these cases, in which grazing is 

 useful, are very much less numerous than those in which it 

 is prejudicial, and have caused the economic ruin of forests 

 and their conversion in mere hrushwood ; this is specially 

 true, where goats are permitted to graze in the forest. 



Frequently, danger from mice follows from a dense growth 

 of grass, especially in felling-areas near fields. Under and 

 between the dry procumbent tufts of grass, the mice find 

 sheltered winter-quarters, where they collect in swarms, 

 especially under deep snow, and cause great damage to young 

 beech and other plants by gnawing their bark. When cattle 

 trample in the grass and herbage which is full of the runs of 

 the mice, and the covers that protected them against enemies 

 and the cold, have been removed, damage to forest by mice 

 becomes much less formidable. 



It has been observed in many places, that in scantily-stocked 

 old woods with consolidated soil, where cattle have pastured, 

 natural regeneration is obtained more easily than in others 

 closed to grazing, provided the cattle are removed when the 

 seed germinates. This is due to the wounding of the soil, 

 caused by the tread of the cattle, especially on somewhat 

 sloping ground. 



(b) Disadvantages of Forest Pasture. 



The realisation of the above-mentioned advantages from 

 forest pasture is always more or less attended with danger to 

 the forest. The damage which cattle effect in a forest is 

 due chiefly to improverishing the soil, browsing on the forest 

 plants, and trampling on their roots and on the soil. 



i. Impoverishment of f/te Soil. 



Every usage which removes forest produce must conse- 

 quently reduce the fertility of the soil ; it is incontestable that 



