53S FIELD-CKOPS IN FORESTS. 



by the village, the operation is repeated. The Oaros levy fines on a 

 village if a fire should spread from its lands to those of another 

 village. The reserved trees are lopped of most of their branches, so 

 as not to overshade the crops, and temporary bamboo huts are built 

 in the forking boughs of these trees, where the cultivators can sleep 

 without fear of elephants and other wild beasts. — Tu.] 



3. Fidil-Crops (dti'i-iKitiiuf nitJi the Cultivation of Trees. 



Wherever care is taken to protect the woody growth after the 

 tield-crop has l)een harvested, the latter may he considered as 

 subordinate in importance to the former. Here, usually after a 

 clear felling, unless the trees have been up-rooted, the stumps 

 are extracted, the refuse burned, and the soil cultivated for a 

 crop of corn. If the soil-covering consists of shrubs, grass, &c., 

 it is sometimes hoed-up in sods and burned in loosely piled 

 heaps with the wood-refuse. The heaps are thoroughly burned 

 to ashes so as to leave as little charred wood as possible. The 

 ashes and the burned earth from the sods are then strewn t)ver 

 the area. This system is termed in German, ScJimoren or 

 Schmodcn. If the area is merely roughly hoed, and all the 

 herbage and refuse wood spread over it so that the fire passes 

 over the whole area, the system is termed Seiujeii. This is 

 usual when there is not much herbage on the soil, the soil- 

 covering chiefly consisting of coniferous needles ; the fire is 

 then applied against the wind, or downhill on slopes, otherwise 

 it would be kept under control with difficulty. 



In the system termed Srltinorcn the refuse is more thoroughly 

 burned to ashes than in the latter system, which produces more 

 charred wood. The beneficial effects of burning the soil arc, 

 however, more marked in Sciu/en. 



The field-crops usually last for two years. CTcnorally cereal 

 crops are cultivated, l)U(kwheat, rye, or oats, a third crop being 

 sometimes obtained. [Potatoes are also grown. — Tr.] The 

 ground cannot always be cleared early enough for spring sowing, 

 it then lies fallow till the autumn, when it is sown for the 

 next year's crop. As soon as the cultivation of field-cro])s 

 ceases, the area is restocked with trees either by sowing or 

 planting, and occasionally the seed of the trees is sown with the 

 last cereal seed. 



There are several varieties of this mode of treating forest land. 



