USE OF THE FOREST 179 



cattle can be kept off from the parts where a new growth 

 is to be started, until the young trees are over ten feet in 

 height. With cattle this is easily and cheaply done by a 

 two-strand fence of barb wire, which can be used over 

 and over again ; with sheep this does no good, and they 

 should be herded. 



In the dry portions of our western mountain ranges the 

 sheep find a summer range which is considered quite 

 indispensable to the sheep industry of many districts. 

 Since the forests are stocked with conifers, which the 

 sheep do not eat, it is chiefly their trampling which does 

 any damage. In these mountains most of the herding is 

 done on the high ridges where timber does not grow very 

 well, if at all, and also in the numerous " burns," where 

 repeated fires have killed and consumed everything. 

 These burns are without seed trees and therefore restock 

 very slowly, commonly remaining open grazing grounds 

 for years. 



Where forest growth is very difficult to start, and 

 where, as is usually the case in these mountain countries, 

 it is very necessary to avoid serious erosion from the 

 irregular flow of the streams, pasturage should be regu- 

 lated or abandoned altogether. 



