4 THE DEV'RLOPMrWT OF BRTTIRTT FORESTRY 



and eye lose their cunning in the chase. So long as the 

 population keeps within narrow limits, is settled rather 

 than nomadic in its habits, and cattle or swine pre- 

 dominate over sheep and goats, forest destruction proceeds 

 locally rather than generally, the tendency being to restrict 

 the grazing of cattle to the neighbourhood of the settle- 

 ments, owing to the greater security there afforded from 

 beasts of prey and theft, while swine are rather beneficial 

 than otherwise to the perpetuation of the forest. Pastoral 

 tribes, on the other hand, moving their flocks of sheep and 

 goats from place to place as pasturage becomes temporarily 

 scarce or exhausted, quickly devastate a country, especially 

 under climatic conditions which permit grazing through- 

 out the year, or are productive of summer drought, which 

 latter compels animals to browse rather than graze for 

 their subsistence. 



The first stage in the process of permanent deforesta- 

 tion accompanies the cultivation or enclosure of the surface, 

 but before this has proceeded to any great extent, the forests 

 have usually been thinned out to a park-like condition of 

 grass, scrub, and veteran timber tree, picturesque and 

 attractive enough to the ordinary inhabitant, no doubt, 

 but of little commercial value. No succession of young 

 trees exists to take the place of those felled or blown 

 down by wind, the surface becomes hard or covered with 

 OTass and rubbish, while wind removes the humus and 

 decaying vegetable matter which formerly preserved 

 the moisture and fertility of the soil. On steep slopes 

 the result of this deforestation is invariably bad, and 

 frequently disastrous, leading to the erosion of the 

 surface soil, the rapid flooding of rivers, and in moun- 

 tainous countries, to landslips and laying bare of rocky 

 surfaces. 



The above sketch, brief as it is, may be said to be fairly 

 typical of the course of events which have taken place 



