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CHAPTER II. 



UTILIZATION OF FOREST FODDER. 



The natural fodder produced by forests is composed of grasses 

 aud other herbage growing on the ground, as well as the leaves 

 and young shoots of woody plants. This material can be used 

 in several ways for cattle-fodder, either by driving the beasts 

 into the forest to graze, or by allowing men to cut grass or the 

 leaves of woody plants, and use them for stall-fodder. The 

 present chapter is therefore divided into 3 sections : pasture, 

 grass-cutting and leaf-fodder. 



Section I. — Pasture. 



1. General Account. 



Forest Pasture means the utilization of the herbage and grass 

 of a forest by the admission of cattle. In earlier times, and 

 until the second half of the eighteenth century, this was almost 

 the sole mode of feeding cattle employed in all the forest districts 

 of Germany. In many places forest pasture was exercised 

 without any restriction ; it first, however, came into collision 

 with the interests of sport, and later on, care for the forest 

 intervened, and as soon as the development of agriculture 

 necessitated stall-feeding, the first move was made towards with- 

 drawing cattle from forests. If stall-feeding has not yet become 

 universal, and owing to the increased population of the higher 

 mountain-ranges, a steady demand for forest pasture still prevails, 

 there is no comparison between its present condition and that of 

 earlier times. In plains, hilly districts and many low moun- 

 tain ranges, forest pasture completely loses the injurious im- 

 portance loruicrly attached to it, provided it is kept within 



