start ground fires to promote the growth of 

 grass on which to pasture cattle; the argument 

 being that ground fires only burn up brush 

 and dead rubbish, and do not injure mature 

 trees. But brush must necessarily include 

 seedlings, and even saplings, on which per- 

 petuation depends. Dead rubbish is the 

 ground cover on which trees of all ages de- 

 pend for their principal supply of food. 



Even a slothful farmer, who just turns in 

 cattle to browse in winter, commits a ruinous 

 blunder, for browsing does incalculable in- 

 jury to coming generations, and the damage 

 caused by trampling and sharp hoofs is nearly 

 as destructive to the ground cover as fire. So, 

 all things considered, pasturing cattle in the 

 woods is about the most shiftless proceeding 

 which can be perpetrated in husbandry. 



Want of judicious selection in cutting trees 

 is another of the blunders which even the most 

 elementary knowledge of forestry will pre- 

 vent. Since being enlightened, our plan is 

 first to consider the tree as a unit. Has it 



312 



