604 FOREST I.ITTER. 



'2. lAttrrffom Weeds. 



Hcatlier is the most productive form of weed-litter, and is 

 harvested in different Avays according to its age and sylvicultural 

 requirements. Heather is usually cut with the sickle, provided 

 it is not more than 3 to 4 years old ; when old and woody, it 

 must be cut with a strong knife, or whenever there is no fear 

 of injuring forest plants which are growing among the heather, 

 it may be pulled up by hand. "Whenever the heather is harvested 

 on blanks, or waste land, it is best to use a strong scythe, and 

 when not only the heather but the grassy or mossy tufts which 

 accompany it are utilized, a broad, sharp hoe is used. Bilberry 

 and other Vacciniuin undergrowth, also broom and ferns, when 

 used for litter, are harvested like heather. All the heather and 

 other weeds, which have been gathered are usually brought in 

 cloths to the forest depot ; broom and ferns are often firmly tied 

 on the spot into bundles by means of withes. 



3. Litter from Green Branehes. 



Green branches for use as litter are either cut from the 

 standing trees, which men sometimes climb for the purpose, or 

 are from felled stems. 



The most destructive method of lopping branches, in use in 

 parts of the Tyrol and Swiss Alps, is to cut them by means of 

 an iron hook at the end of a long pole. In other regions men 

 climb silver-fir trees by the help of climbing-irons, and use a 

 short axe for lopping. Where this usage is practised in a con- 

 servative manner only trees shortly to be felled are lopped, within 

 the space of a few years, beginning with the lower branches and 

 then taking those higher up. If, however, no attention is paid 

 to sylviculture, the trees are often lopped bare to the very top. 

 The simplest and least hurtful practice is to lop the branches 

 from felled trees on the felling-areas. 



Coniferous branchwood, however it may be collected, is usually 

 taken to the farms and cut into lengths on a block with a hatchet; 

 all wood thicker than a finger is put aside for firewood and the 

 rest used as litter. Wherever branchwood on the regular felling- 

 areas is used for litter it may advantageously be bound up like 

 faggots, the workman, before cutting the branches into the usual 



