47 



forest, show that the destruction of a large proportion of the former South African 

 forests may be due to this cause, provided that the burning has been carried during a 

 sufficiently long period of time. All trace of a forest would become quite obliterated in 

 half a century or less, and the ground as strong and barren as the adjoining veldt. The 

 practice of grass-burning has been carried on for centuries by the pastoral Natives of 

 Natal : in 1495, grass-fires were already so prevalent in Natal that Vasco de Gama 

 gave it the name of Terra de fume. We are beginning to reap the fruits of this con- 

 tinual burning. The aridity that is settling over South Africa need not be ascribed to 

 any other cause ; and, as I have pointed out, the consequent erosion of the ground is 

 becoming a conspicuous feature of South African scenery. 



Belts of deciduous trees have been found of service in India and in France to arrest 

 the spread of forest fires, as might be tried experimentally as a border to some of our 

 forests. The kinds preconised are Oaks and Poplars ; but Wattles, which destroy the 

 grass under, may prove equally serviceable in Natal. 



PROTECTION FROM CATTLE. 



The exclusion of cattle is a necessary condition in the management of demarkated 

 forests. Cattle, especially goats and sheep, nibble the seedlings and young trees, and it 

 is only thorny or inaccessible portions that are proof against their attacks. The destruc- 

 tion of forests abandoned to indiscriminate sheep or goat grazing is certain and merely 

 a question of time. When the old trees perish the forest ceases to exist if the seedlings 

 have been destroyed as they sprang up and there is no young growth to replace the old 

 timber. Though it may at first appear difficult to believe that the forests can be thus 

 destroyed over large areas, examples have been recorded from all parts of the world (*), 

 and whenever forest conservation is aimed at, special measures are adopted against 

 destruction by cattle. Oxen are not so destructive as goats or sheep, and under certain 

 conditions a limited number may be allowed to graze inside a demarkated forest. They are 

 useful in keeping the grass down, and thereby lessening the risk of forest fires. When the 

 grass is plentiful, oxen seldom browse the young plants ; this consideration should be taken 

 into account in determining the pasturage allowable in demarkated forests. But even oxen 

 eonnot be allowed in the sections of the forest where regeneration is taking place, and 

 pasturage is thus inadmissable in a forest, worked by the method ofjardinage, where trees 

 of all ages grow side by side. Pigs are supposed to be rather useful than otherwise. 

 Game would be injurious when too plentiful, but this is seldom the case. The 

 exclusion of cattle cannot be satisfactorily effected except by natural or artificial barriers. 



* The forests of the High Alps have been destroyed by the pasturing of flocks, and many other European 

 forests have suffered severely from the same cause. Prof. Sargent (Tenth Census. U.S., vol. ix. p. 579) reports 

 that cattle are threatening the destruction of the mountain forests of California. Mr. A. F. Mummery 

 (Nature, March 28, 1889), gives cases of large forests on the Caucasus destroyed by cattle. Darwin (Journal 

 of a Naturalist, p. o84), shows how the forests of St. Helena disappeared in consequence of the introduction 

 of goats, and adduces a similar instance for the island of Juan Fernandez;. Darwin also gives (Origin of 

 Specie*, p. - r )6), an instructive account of the searching manner in which cattle destroy and keep down young 

 iorest growth. 



