FOREST PASTURE. 30 



and are sooner out of their reach. Binding or heavy soil 

 becomes all the more compact by the tread of the animals, 

 and less susceptible to the entrance of air and water, and the 

 roots lying immediately below the soil-covering are exposed 

 to damage. Very loose soil becomes still looser from the 

 tread of cattle, as they destroy the herbage which binds the 

 soil together. The greatest damage by grazing animals is on 

 shifting sands. 



On level ground, damage is less than among hills, where it 

 is increased if the soil be loose, or the slopes steep ; very wet 

 slopes are also endangered by the sliding of the feet of the 

 cattle. The steeper a slope, up to a certain point, the more 

 erosion is caused ; larger plants are also reached by cattle 

 from above, on slopes, than on level ground, and the damage 

 by browsing, bending and breaking is greater. 



Scantily wooded, dry, hot aspects are obviously unsuited for 

 grazing. 



(6) Density of Foreign Growth. 



In dense woods, little or no grass is to be found, so that 

 more damage is done to woody growth than in more open 

 forests, where herbage grows under the trees. 



(7) Species of Grazing Animal. 



Among European animals, goats show the greatest prefer- 

 ence for woody plants, and their mode of feeding is most 

 injurious. They even devour woody plants when there is 

 plenty of herbage available, and beat down saplings with their 

 forelegs till they can reach the leading shoots, on which they 

 browse ; they can thus reach plants 12 feet in height. They 

 also peel the bark from stems in spring. Their constant 

 movement on the steepest slopes is another great source of 

 damage. To take some of many instances of the destruction 

 of forests by goats : — In the Tyrol and Southern Switzerland, 

 and in the Himalayas, fine forests have been completely 

 destroj'ed by them, and in Ajmere and Merwara, whole hill- 

 sides where vegetation once flourished have been laid almost 

 bare, with nothing left but deformed, thorny shrubs. In 



