23 1 FELLINC AND CONVEUSIUN. 



plan to place a round piece of wood under the falling stem, so 

 that by its own fall the latter may the more readily tear its roots 

 frum the irround. 



iii. AdranfafU's (tnil J >isa(Ir(nif((t]<s of I'prootiini. 



The advantage of utilizing the stumps consists chiefly in the 

 reduced waste of wood this involves ; for, on the average, one-fifth 

 of the stem and branch-wood is contained in the stump. Stump- 

 wood afibrds very good fuel, especially where a protracted steady 

 heat is required. The demand for firewood is, however, 

 frequently so small that stum])-wood has lost much of its 

 importance in this respect. In highly populous districts, it may 

 be the object of a forest servitude, or roots may be extracted for 

 cultivation of the ground. In other cases, stump-wood is used 

 for the horns of sledges, as knee-timber for ships and boats, for 

 ploughs, kc. Extracting stumps is also useful, as by afterwards 

 levelling the holes, the ground becomes thoroughly cultivated 

 and suitable for sowing ; for not only is germination facilitated, 

 but in dry soils the young seedling-plants thrive best on the 

 deeply worked soil of these holes, provided care is taken to pro- 

 tect them from weeds. Stumps are also frequently breeding 

 places for destructive insects, especially of Ilijlohiiia ahicti.s, L., 

 and shelter mice, and their removal is thus beneficial. 



There are certain disadvantages involved in the removal of 

 stumps, and in the first place, decayed stumps increase the 

 humus and mineral matter in the soil. This may not be of 

 importance where the humus is carefully preserved by maintain- 

 ing the leaf-canopy and preventing all removal of litter, and 

 especially on damp soils. Where, however, these conditions do 

 not hold good, as for instance on poor sandy soil where the litter 

 is removed, if the stumps are also extracted and the soil thus 

 deprived of its last resource in organic matter, it may thus be 

 rendered absolutely unproductive. Secondly, on steep slopes, 

 wherever it is essential to hold the soil together as much as 

 ])ossible, in order to prevent denudation, extractiun of stumps 

 should be prevented. 



Extraction of stumps is, therefore, permissible wherever it can 

 be done remuneratively, provided that no serious damage is done 



