METHODS OF DISPOSAL. 631 



It is of the highest importance that a proper royalt}' for litter 

 should be fixed. Formerly, in many districts, litter was given 

 either free, or a small charge levied in order to protect the forest 

 against the usage becoming a prescriptive right, which scarcely 

 interfered with the gratis character of its delivery. When, 

 however, any produce is given gratis, the presumption is that its 

 owner sets no value on it. Forest-owners could not therefore 

 complain of the widespread idea that litter had no sylvicultural 

 value. 



Such an important item in forest production, without which a 

 steady yield of wood is scarcely conceivable on forest soil often 

 absolutely poor in itself, should, if sold at all, be sold at the 

 highest price obtainable. If forest litter is of such essential 

 importance to agriculture as people imagine, it should certainly 

 be sold, and at the same rate as straw, for it is a matter of every- 

 day experience, wherever forest litter is used, that straw ceases 

 to be used for stall-litter, and consequently forest litter is a 

 complete substitute for it. 



Even in cases where forest-owners for certain reasons are 

 compelled temporarily to facilitate the removal of forest litter, 

 it should not be given gratis, though lower prices than those 

 current for straw may be charged. This position among others 

 was adopted by the Bavarian Forest Department in the year of 

 drought 1893-94. 



