CHAPTER IX 



PROTECTION OF WOODS AGAINST WEEDS 

 AND FUNGI 



WEEDS. 



ALL plants which are not required in the forest may be 

 termed ' weeds ', whether they are trees, shrubs, or annuals. 



The most common weeds in our woods are bramble, heather, 

 wild briar, bilberry, ivy, traveller's-joy, honeysuckle, bracken, 

 gorse, foxgloves, broom, and grasses. Sometimes such plants 

 as birch, willows, aspens, blackthorn, whitethorn, and holly 

 may also be considered as weeds where they interfere with 

 the growth of more valuable species. 



Most of these weeds damage forest plants by closely sur- 

 rounding and covering them, thus depriving them of light, 

 air, and rain. Climbing plants smother or wind round 

 valuable trees, and, in addition to depriving them of light, they 

 spoil the shape of the stem, which often grows into a corkscrew- 

 like shape. 



Bracken and similar weeds are often laid flat over the plants 

 in winter by the weight of snow, and thus bend them and 

 spoil their shape. Weeds also take up valuable mineral 

 matters from the soil and thus impoverish it ; although these 

 substances are returned to the soil when the weeds die, yet 

 too often a new crop of weeds again comes up and the mineral 

 matters are therefore not available for the forest trees. A dense 

 growth of grass or annuals prevents dew and light rain from 

 reaching the ground, and may thus be harmful in dry years. 

 Weeds, in addition, harbour mice and injurious insects, and 

 are a great source of danger with regard to fire. 



It is therefore of importance to keep woods as clear of 

 weeds as possible. Before planting a blank area they may 

 often be cheaply got rid of by burning them as they stand, 



