EFFECT OF BURNING BRUSHLANDS 227 



humus content. To such unproductive soil a goodly supply 

 of humus must be added before it can support a permanent and 

 stable type of valuable forage plants. 



The burning of brushlands has generally improved neither the 

 palatable herbaceous nor the browse crop. Observations also 

 substantiate the conclusion that what little improvement there 

 may be in the forage following a fire is only temporary. If there 

 is any improvement, it is usually more than offset by the de- 

 pletion of the soil and the later increased growth and " stemmi- 

 ness " of the original brush plants themselves, as well as by the 

 damage to personal and public property that so often results 

 from the lack of proper fire control. 



Goats as Brush Destroyers. — Great success is attained in 

 the destruction of brush if goats are pastured where the brush 

 is not too dense for the animals to work their way through it. 

 If goats are held long on an area whose stand is sufficiently open 

 to afford at least a moderate cover of grass and broad-leaved 

 herbs, they crop the brush so closely as to kill it (Fig. 73). At 

 the same time they make fair economic returns. Like other 

 classes of stock, goats do best on a mixed diet. Browse feed is 

 generally less succulent than herbaceous vegetation, and there- 

 fore wethers or dry does use the brush feed to much better advan- 

 tage than does and kids, for the reason that, if the kids are to 

 make satisfactory growth, the feed must be such as will provide 

 an ample mUk supply. 



One serious objection to the use of goats, so far as profit 

 from the animals is concerned, is that, after some of the brush 

 has been killed, a considerable part of the mohair is pulled out 

 as the animals work their way through the stiff dry stems and 

 branches. In parts of Cahfornia,^ Virginia, and the CaroHnas, 

 and in certain other sections, losses resulting from the destruc- 

 tion of the mohair have been so heavy as to cause stockmen 

 entirely to abandon the use of goats for brush-clearing purposes. 

 Of course, for some weeks after shearing practically no loss of 

 mohair is caused by the brush. If profit from the goats is purely 



^ Hatton, John H., "Eradication of Chaparral by Goat Grazing." U. S. Dept. 

 of Agr., ReN-iew of Forest Service Investigations, Vol. 2, pp. 25-28, 1913. 



