82 SYLVICULTURE IN THE TROPICS r, . 



it is not possible to lay down a hard-and-fast rule that 

 so many of any special kind may be allowed per hectare 

 of forest. Each forest must be treated according to its 

 own merits, for what may be permissible in one might 

 be extremely hurtful in another, and vice versa. In 

 Europe, 1 it is considered that large milch cattle require 

 per head from 4 to 5 hectares (10 to 12^ acres) of good 

 pasture for the whole summer, 2 to 3 young cattle or 

 7 to 10 sheep being considered as equivalent to one 

 head of full-grown cattle. 



In India, in places where large numbers of buffaloes, 

 camels, or elephants are kept, considerable damage may 

 be done by lopping for fodder. A large number of species 

 are suitable for buffalo fodder ; for camels, boughs of 

 Ficus religiosa are usually lopped ; and for the elephant 

 the Ficus bengalensis in India, and F. religiosa in 

 Burma. What has to be watched is, that unnecessary 

 damage to the trees is not done by the men cutting 

 fodder. It often happens that, to save themselves the 

 trouble and risk of climbing to the ends of the branches, 

 they cut large limbs off, from which, as they lie on the 

 ground, they lop the boughs which they take away for 

 fodder. 



It remains to be said that damage done by grazing 

 is generally greater in monsoon and savannah forests 

 than in the evergreen forests of the wet zone, where, 

 under the dense leaf-canopy, little herbage springs up. 



One of the greatest evils attendant on grazing is 

 that caused by forest fires. It is chiefly in order to 

 obtain a fresh crop of tender grass that fire is set to a 

 forest or to the pastures in the vicinity of the forest, 

 whence the fire penetrates sometimes miles away into 

 the woods. In their progress the flames, striking the 

 outlying trees with the greatest impetus, do most damage 

 to them, and gradually kill them off and thus reduce the 

 area of the forest. 



Forest fires, although they are chiefly due to graziers, 

 may arise from a strange variety of causes, as the perusal 



1 Schlich'fl Minimi! of Forestry, vol. iv., by W. R. Fisher, p. 41. 



