DAMAGE BY PASTUKE. 743 



pasture removes, in the fodder consumed, large quantities of 

 nutritive mineral matter from the forest and reduces the 

 organic matter necessary for the formation of humus. The 

 damage done is however slight, for the dung of the cattle 

 remains in the forest, and many organic products are composed 

 chiefly of air ; only on shallow calcareous soil, or on gravel, 

 can the superficial soil be said to deteriorate. 



ii. Damage li/ 



Cattle graze not only on the grass and herbage of the soil 

 covering of forests, but also browse on the leaves, buds, and 

 young shoots of woody plants. That, by this browsing, 

 especially if repeated annually for long intervals of time, 

 forest growth is seriously damaged and its very existence 

 endangered, may be proved by the present condition of hun- 

 dreds of acres of forests, even if the fact is not accepted as 

 self-evident. When and where browsing is to be feared, and 

 the extent to which woods are thus endangered, depends on 

 UK larger or smaller supply of fodder-plants on the grazing- 

 groimds, the species of cattle admitted to graze, the suscepti- 

 bility of the woody species, the season for grazing, the age 

 of the woods and the system of management. 



Supply of Fodder. It is obvious that when cattle do not find 

 sufficient grass or herbage on their grazing-grounds, they will 

 attack woody growth. 



The condition of the animals as regards fodder is of 

 immense importance to the well-being of the forest. Hungry 

 cattle, of any kind, will attack woody growth much more 

 readily than those that are well fed; if, therefore, there is 

 only scanty herbage in a forest, the damage done by either 

 horned cattle or sheep may be considerable. It is on this 

 account that the half-starved flocks of sheep driven annually 

 from Lombardy to the Engadine and the Tyrol are always so 

 destructive to the forests. So, also, cattle, reared from their 

 youth in forests attack woody growth much more than cattle 

 accustomed to meadows and only occasionally driven into the 

 forest. Milch cattle and breeding cattle always require the 

 best fodder, and satisfy their hunger without wandering far ; 



