598 FOREST LITTER. 



Of the mosses usually employed for litter, several species of tbe 

 liirge j;eiius lli/puuin and of other genera are common, as :* — 

 Ili/pimin Scltrcheri,piinim, cuajn datum, moUuscnin, cupressiforme; 

 Iljlloconnion splouh'iis, sqitarrosiwi, triquetnim, and hrcnm ; 

 Jirachythccium nitabulum; Campotltecium lutesci'its ; Thuklinm 

 tamariscinum and abietimim, S:c. ; also Pohitrirhum formusum 

 and urnigerum ; Dicranum saipariuin ; Bartramia fuittana ; 

 Climatium dendroides ; on wet, swampy ground, besides some of 

 the above, species oi Spha<jnum predominate. 



The quantity of moss in a forest which may be used for litter, 

 depends chiefly on the species of tree of which the standin^^ crop 

 is composed, the age of the wood, and the system of management. 



As regards species of tree, moss is most prevalent in coniferous 

 woods, and especially in those of spruce and silver-fir ; it is rare 

 for broad-leaved woods to produce moss in sufficient abundance 

 to be utilizable as litter. 



It is chiefly the annual fall of dead leaves in broad-leaved woods 

 which forms an obstacle to the growth of moss, as they intercept 

 the small amount of light which mosses require, and small tufts 

 of moss which may be produced here and there are stifled by the 

 dead leaves falling on them in succeeding years. It is difterent 

 in coniferous woods : the thinner coating of dead needles aft'ords 

 room for the spread of any mosses which have germinated and 

 sufficient light for their development. As the moss then grows 

 regularly through the annual fall of needles, the litter consists 

 of an inseparable mixture of moss and dead needles, and they 

 can only exceptionally be collected separately. 



In spruce and silver-fir forests, mosses receive not only a suit- 

 able degree of light, which is uniform during summer and winter, 

 but also that high degree of moisture in the soil and air which 

 is indispensable for their growth. In Scotch pine and larch 

 woods, moss is generally an unimportant factor in the soil cover- 

 ing, or may be completely absent. 



As regards age, in the early years of dense spruce and silver- 

 fir forests there is only a slight production of moss ; after the 

 leaf-canopy has become elevated, so as to admit sufficient light to 

 the soil and allow for a slight movement of air-currents, moss 

 gradually spreads over the ground. It then continually becomes 



• Vide Braithwaite's British Moss Flora ; also James' Field-Flora of Mosses. 



