580 FOIIF.ST LITTEll. 



vegetable structure Las completely disappeared, in litter {Stirii). 

 this structure is quite recoguizable. Humus cauuot be used in 

 stalls for litter, but it has some value as manure and is there- 

 fore appreciated by the farmer as an adjunct to litter. It is 

 thus generally the undecomposed layers of the soil-covering only 

 which arc used as litter in agriculture. Forest litter may 

 therefore consist of various materials, which have difiereut 

 values as substitutes for straw and are collected in various ways. 

 Besides ground-litter, the young twigs of conifers are also used 

 as stable litter. Hence a distinction is made between the 

 follo^nng kinds of forest litter : — 



A. Ground- Litter, including all dead or living materials from 

 the soil-covering of forests, which may consist of: — 



(a) Dry fallen leaves or needles, which are shed by the trees 

 forming the standing crop of the forest ; and to some extent, 

 by shrubs in the underwood. 



(b) Moss and grass, partly living and partly dead. 



(c) Forest weeds, such as broom, bilberry-plants (and other 

 species of Vacciiiiuiji), heather, ferns, reeds, rushes, ilvc. 



B. Branch-Litter, young needle-bearing twigs of the Scotch 

 pine, spruce, silver-tir and larch. 



SkCTION II. iMrOETANCE OF FoiJEST LiTTER FOR WOOD- 



Production.* 



Foresters have always endeavoured to preserve the forest soil- 

 covering of humus and litter ; these materials have indeed for a 

 long time been recognized as the natural means of preserving 

 the productiveness of the soil and preventing deterioration of the 

 forest, which is in no way more endangered than by their removal. 



1. J'xiir/irial I\lJ'rrts of LitUr and IIumuH on the Growth 

 of Trees. 



(a) Preservation of moisture in the soil. — The humus which 

 covers the mineral subsuil and is only to a slight extent mixeil 

 with it, and the coating of litter above the humus, are the most 

 eflectual means of securing and maintaining in the soil th( 



• Eliermayer, Die gosammte Lehre der Waltlstieu, Berlin, 1876. 



