IN THE BEECH WOODS 143 



removed, so that about one-eighth of the cubic 

 contents of the crop is harvested. At this stage 

 useful preparation of the soil can be cheaply 

 effected by driving cattle into the woods or 

 by leading swine there for pannage. Stunted, 

 dwarfish, bushy saplings will usually be found 

 self-sown before this; but as they seldom de- 

 velop well, they should be cleared from the 

 ground to make way for the regular crop of 

 seedlings, while softwoods like birch or aspen 

 should be cut out as weeds. 



The first time a good mast year comes round 

 after that, a * seed felling ' is made by removing 

 from a quarter to one-third of the mature crop 

 still on the ground, the trees left being preferably 

 those girthing about forty to fifty inches at breast 

 height, and having shapely, high-set crowns. The 

 larger fall is made on rather dry soils to allow 

 the seedling crop to have the benefit of the night 

 dews, while the smaller quantity is removed in 

 places prone to rank growth of weeds. The 

 frequent driving of cattle through the woods 

 and pannage of swine during the mast year is 

 highly beneficial to the regeneration. Though 

 the pigs eat greedily of the beech-nuts, they break 



