CHAPTER II. 



ATTENTIONS TO GIVE TO THE SOIL. 



These attentions have for their object the bringing of a given 

 soil to, and its maintenance at, that condition of physical and nu- 

 tritional fitness, which will enable the crop actually on it to yield 

 the highest outturn of which it is capable. Direct means to at- 

 tain and maintain this condition, such as form a necessary part of 

 agriculture, are of course out of the question in forestry, except on 

 the most restricted scale. The forester must rely mainly on the 

 employment of indirect means. These consist essentially of pro- 

 tective measures, which are nevertheless, if wisely carried out, 

 quite sufficient not only to preserve the productive capacity of any 

 soil in question, but also to augment it. The productiveness of a 

 soil depends principally on its depth, its compactness, the amount 

 of moisture in it, and its richness. 



Depth . 



No amount of attention can modify to any great extent the depth 

 of a soil, but existing conditions can of course be almost indefi- 

 nitely improved and deterioration can be effectually prevented. 



In a very shallow soil, whether it is well or poorly stocked, we 

 must studiously refrain from making clear fellings and from other- 

 wise exposing it and thereby causing it to dry up, impairing the 

 formation of humus and hindering the fertilising action of the 

 atmosphere. Regeneration should be effected slowly and under 

 cover, fellings should be light, and all advance growth, and, if 

 necessary, even undershrubs, should be carefully preserved. Es- 

 pecially should this be the procedure on a thin layer of. soil resting 

 on boulders, particularly if these be limestone or dolomite. When 

 once this layer of soil has disappeared, the strictest protection is 

 required to restore it ; and even then the process is an extremely 

 slow one, since what little soil is formed every year in loco by the 

 weathering of stones and rock-surface is easily washed away by 

 rain. For this reason every scrap of spontaneous vegetation ap- 

 pearing, from the first stage of mere scattered tufts of grass to the 

 last stage of undershrubs and shrubs, should be most carefully 

 preserved. The spontaneous vegetation should be supplemented 



