74-4 UTILIZATION OF FOREST HERBAGE FOR FODDER. 



young cattle thrive on inferior herbage, and it is even 

 beneficial to them to be driven far into the forest for their 

 fodder. 



Species of Tree. In general, broadleaved species suffer 

 more from cattle than conifers ; among them, it is (unless 

 they possess acid or bitter sap) chiefly light-demanding species 

 that are most attacked, such as ash, aspen, sallow, syca- 

 more ; but also hornbeam. These species are attacked when 

 isolated among beech, even where there is plenty of herbage. 

 It is characteristic of cattle to prefer locally rare woody 

 species to those of which a wood is composed chiefly. Whilst 

 in districts where beech predominates, it rarely suffers 

 provided there is plenty of grass, beech-plants springing up in 

 coniferous woods with scanty herbage are attacked so freely as 

 to grow into abnormal shapes, which can be hardly recognised 

 as trees. Oak and alder are less liable to attack than the 

 species already mentioned, and except the alder, the birch is 

 the only European forest tree, which is browsed rarely by 

 horned cattle. Sheep spare beech more than do horned 

 cattle, but they attack light-demanding species freely, even the 

 birch. The goat is impartial in its taste for woody species. 

 Among conifers, silver-fir and larch are more endangered 

 than spruce and pines, which latter suffer from browsing. 

 The spruce escapes more easily than the softer silver-fir ; the 

 larch grows more rapidly out of danger, as the larch forests of 

 Wallis and the Engadine show. 



Season for Pasture. Pasture is most dangerous to woody 

 growth at two periods of the year : in the spring, when the 

 young shoots appear and the foliage is tender and most 

 nutritive ; again, late in autumn, when the grass has become 

 hard or scanty. The least damage is therefore done at 

 the season when the grass is still soft and juicy, and the 

 annual upward growth of the woody plants is about finished, 

 i.e. from the end of May till the middle of July. In the higher 

 Alpine pastures, however, the grass is not fully grown till the 

 second half of June. If cattle are brought into the forest only 

 when the grass has become tough and there is little after- 

 growth, they will browse certainly on woody plants. Cattle 

 should not be driven into the forest in the morning before the 



