DAMAGE CAUSED BY PLANTS. 69 



the mature crop is removed ; in other cases, again, natural causes, 

 like windfall or snow-break, interrupt the density of the canopy, 

 or throw down the parent standards in areas undergoing reproduc- 

 tion, and thereby afford the weeds an opportunity of rapidly 

 increasing. Forest fires, too, and insects can easily, and unfor- 

 tunately often do, interfere with the growth of woodlands to such 

 an extent, over larger or smaller areas, that they become at once 

 covered with weeds hindering reproductive operations. In these 

 cases the removal or annihilation of such rank growth is the first 

 duty of the forester. 



This can take place in many ways, as, for instance, by permitting 

 the removal of such weeds as can be utilised as litter or manure 

 (heather, broom, bracken), from which sometimes even a small ^ 

 revenue can be derived. But where this can not be arranged for, 

 at any rate a partial clearance of the objectionable soil-covering \ ' 

 must be made in belts or strips, especially in the case of heather 

 and berries, before the planting operations can be carried out ; and 

 even this sometimes requires to be repeated again afterwards. 

 The temporary use of the soil for agricultural purposes, or agricul- 

 tural utilisation of the soil between the rows of plants, is in many 

 districts a means of annihilating the growth of weeds, and at the 

 same time of securing the advantages desirable from a thorough 

 breaking up and loosening of the soil. 



A strong growth of grass, apt to cause damage by overshadow- 

 ing and choking young plants in summer, and overlaying and 

 crushing them in winter, can be removed from sowings by being 

 pulled out along with the roots in wisps, or from regular planta- 

 tions by being cut with the sickle, and in many localities such 

 grass is in good demand as fodder. Even the pasturing of sheep 

 and cattle in coniferous woods (Spruce) can, under certain cir- 

 cumstances, take place very advantageously with a view to reduc- 

 ing the growth of grass through the grazing and treading with 

 the horny feet, (for the cattle will not attack the young plants 

 so long as they have a sufficiency of grass at their disposal. , It 

 is better to have bramble-shoots trampled down than to stimulate 

 them to throw out fresh shoots by cutting them back ; whilst 

 ferns, often occurring in large quantities on hill-sides and moun- 

 tainous tracts, can best be checked in growth by lopping them 

 at the time of the development of their very brittle rolled-up 

 young fronds. 



