784 FOREST-LITTER. 



3. Climate. 



In cool, moist climates and in localities sheltered from the 

 wind, litter decomposes slowly ; sometimes it accumulates to 

 such an extent, that its removal may be even advantageous for 

 the trees. Such places should be opened, first of all, for the 

 removal of litter. 



4. Species of Tree. 



The removal of litter is the less injurious for any species of 

 tree, the better the locality suits it, and the less the producti- 

 vity of the locality, depends on the soil-covering of dead leaves, 

 moss and humus. The question is therefore strictly local, 

 and must be decided afresh for every change of locality. 



5. Age of Crop. 



The removal of litter is most prejudicial to young thickets 

 and poles ; on the contrary, for mature crops of trees, at the 

 commencement of natural regeneration, its removal facilitates 

 the germination of the seed, [and enables the seedlings to 

 become rooted firmly in the mineral soil, when they are less 

 exposed to perish from drought than if rooted merely in 

 the litter. Tr.] 



6. Density of Crop. 



There are crops of such a density, that encourages an 

 unproductive accumulation of partly decomposed humus ; in 

 dense spruce and silver-fir woods this bad condition of the 

 soil arrests the growth of the trees. In such cases, thinnings 

 are beneficial and so is the removal of the cushions of moss. 

 Also in crops of pines, oak and larch, there is often a dense 

 soil-covering of mather or bilberry-plants, that induces the 

 formation of sour soil and of a pan ; removal of the soil- 

 covering and breaking up the soil is thus beneficial. 



7. Intensity of the Usage of Litter. 



The shorter the period between consecutive removals of the 

 litter, the greater the injury to the crops. Such an interval 

 be termed rotation of the litter-raking. 



