88 PROTECTION OF WOODLANDS. 



4. Grazing herds should not be driven into the woods too soon in 

 spring, nor should they consist of a more numerous head of 

 animals than is likely to be amply provided with fodder from 

 the area, whilst, at the same time, there should be a regular and 

 adequate change in the localities grazed over. Too long-continued 

 grazing in autumn, after the grass has begun to dry up and wither, 

 should also be avoided. 



5. Grazing paths, green lanes, or drives should be kept clear 

 where large herds are in the habit of being led out and back ; and 

 where they pass through young woods, these green lanes should 

 either have ditches at each side, or else be fenced off with poles. 

 This latter method should, at the same time, be adopted to pro- 

 tect, as well as possible, young woodland growth where it marches 

 with the land that is being grazed over. 



6. When put out on grazing land, saplings should "be protected 

 by being bound round with thorns, or by means of three poles 

 inserted triangularly, and secured so as to keep off the animals 

 from the stem. 



7. Where injuries are to be feared from the treading and 

 tramping of the cattle, the intervals between grazing should be 

 longer, as also on steep slopes during damp weather, favouring the 

 loosening and dislodgment of the soil. 



It may also, in a general way, be remarked that woodland 

 grazing has now lost much of the importance it once had agri- 

 culturally. The acknowledged superiority of stall-feeding, the 

 increase in the number of, and the improvement in, the meadows, 

 and the cultivation of feeding-stuffs, have in many localities 

 almost caused woodland grazing to be a thing of the past. It is 

 only in mountainous districts that it is still of some importance, 

 where the rearing of cattle is extensively engaged in, and where 

 there is usually a dearth of meadow-land ; but there the freshness 

 of the soil on the one hand, and the atmospheric humidity on 

 the other, combine to produce a lively growth of grass within the 

 forests. In such places woodland grazing is still carried on to a 

 considerable extent, and very often without the enforcement of 

 any of the above-mentioned protective precautions ; for whilst the 

 rich growth of grass and the usual crops of conifers tend to 

 minimise the damage done, the injury done to the forests is of 

 less importance from a national economic point of view than the 

 maintenance of the cattle-rearing industry. 



