IRREGULARITIES IN UTILISATION. 29 



from untapped woods adjoining the felling-area on which all 

 trees are tapped. 



(c) Eules regarding the size and number of cuts and the 

 depth of cut to be made in each tree will vary with the species, 

 and are given in detail in Vol. V. on Forest Utilisation. In 

 tapping pines for resin, there should not be more than two 

 points of attack, unless it is intended to kill the tree, when 

 as many as six may be opened. There should be from 8 to 12 

 inches between each cut, and the cuts should not be more than 

 2 inches broad and in one year only about 3 feet long. 



((/) Tapping must be intermittent, so as to allow recovery 

 of the trees before a fresh tapping is allowed, unless it is 

 intended to tap the tree to death before felling it. The 

 interval between successive tappings will of course vary with 

 the species in question. In Europe, all tapping should cease 

 with the first early frost in August or September, and not be 

 resumed till the spring. 



(e) Tapping should rarely be attempted on poor soils. 



4. Leaves and Branches of Forest Trees. 



Leaves of forest trees are used ior fodder, manure, thatching, 

 tanning, dyes, etc. Leaf-fodder is extensively used for cattle 

 in countries where sufficient grass is not available, as in the 

 centre and south of France, where hedge-row oaks are 

 annually pollarded for this purpose. A similar practice pre- 

 vails in the Himalayan districts of India during winter, 

 evergreen oaks, elms and species of Celtis, Pninus, etc., being 

 thus utilised. During the season of rest, leaves of evergreen 

 trees are rich in reserve nutrient material, and afford valuable 

 fodder. In seasons of drought in Central and Western 

 Europe, as in 1893, leaf -fodder from hornbeam and other 

 deciduous trees is also extensively used instead of grass. 



In the north of India, camels, bufi'aloes and elephants are 

 chiefly fed on branches and leaves of trees during the cold 

 and dry seasons. Oaks and other forest trees were formerly 

 extensively pollarded in European deer-forests to afford fodder 

 for the deer, which ate the bark of these branches when the 

 ground was covered with snow. 



