INJURIES FROM ANIMALS 103 



conifers and thus break off their tops than to eat them. Sheep 

 and goats will often strip all foliage as high as they can reach. 

 On steep slopes the trampling of the animals, overturning stones 

 and cutting up the soil, results in preventing young seedlings 

 from becoming established. Hogs destroy forest seedlings and 

 eat the mast of nut trees and, in some sections of the West, this 

 forms an important part of their diet. There may be times when 

 the introduction of hogs into a forest is rather beneficial than 

 otherwise. They will do much by their rooting to prepare the 

 soil for germination before a heavy seed crop and it may even be 

 advantageous for them to eat an undesirable kind of seed, as 

 beech nuts, to keep down the percentage of a poor species. They 

 also destroy innumerable grubs, many of which, like that of the 

 June bug, are serious enemies of forest and nursery. 



The presence of grass in a forest is a sign of poor management, 

 as grass can only grow in openings exposed to sunlight and these 

 openings should not exist in the forest. Grass more than any- 

 thing else transpires moisture and tends to dry out the soil. 



Another result of pasturing wood lots is a total absence of 

 young seedlings and the consequent decline of the forest. This 

 is especially serious in connection with the sugar orchards of 

 northern New England, which are such important portions of 

 many farms. The lack of young maples due to cattle threatens 

 the discontinuance of the industry in many places. 



No area which has been planted to forest, or which has been 

 covered with a natural growth of seedlings, should be pastured 

 until the trees are ten feet high. If the stand is of proper density 

 there will not then be sufficient browse to pay for pasturage. In 

 other words, forestry and grazing can rarely be practiced on the 

 same land to their mutual advantage. 



