780 FOREST-LITTER, 



tempts them to abstain from producing sufficient straw for 

 their cattle. In years of scarcity of straw, however, exceptional 

 assistance to farmers is justified. Thus, in the dry year, 1893, 

 about 75,000 tons of forest-litter, from the State forests of 

 Bavaria, were given to the farmers. The forest-owner should 

 see to it that these aids to agriculture do not become normal. 



2. Sale of Litter. 



Litter can be sold only in two ways : by royalty, or by 

 public auction. The latter method, however, can be adopted 

 only if the removal of litter is regarded as a measure 

 necessary for forest management. 



If litter is sold to the highest bidder, it at once assumes the 

 character of ordinary forest produce; farmers base their 

 cultivation on these sales and expect them to recur annually, 

 and thus a demand for litter arises. Attempts are being made 

 to render the demands for litter permanent. Prices obtained 

 for it by auction represent only the agricultural value of 

 litter. If they are to guide the forester in fixing the royalty 

 it should be remembered that the forest point of view differs 

 from the agricultural opinion of the value of forest-litter. 



There is, however, little or no objection to auctioning litter 

 of forest weeds, the removal of which rarely injures a forest. 



In fixing royalties for litter, two points must be considered, 

 the unit of measurement to be adopted and the rate of royalty. 



(a) Unit of measurement. Forest litter may be measured 

 by area, or by volume ; in the former case, as a rule, one or 

 more compartments in a forest are opened to all permit- 

 holders who remove the litter collectively. They either divide 

 the litter among themselves, or each permit-holder is allowed 

 to remove a specific number of cartloads or headloads. Then 

 separate areas usually are allotted to the different modes of 

 conveyance (carts, wheelbarrows, headloads, etc.). When the 

 litter is disposed of by volume, heaps of specified dimensions 

 are prepared by the permit-holders under the supervision of 

 the guards. The size of each heap corresponds usually to the 

 local waggon-load (for two horses or bullocks) termed in 

 German, Fader, being equal to five stacked cubic meters. 



