GRAZING IN FOBESTS. 315 



making of ditche?, walls, or earthworks. These precautions are 

 eqaall}" necessary in forests, themselves closed against grazing, but 

 adjoiniog others in which that privilege is exercised. 



Blacks, or such portions of a forest as are in a bad state^ con- 

 not be re-stocked or restored as long as they are kept open to 

 grazing. Indeed, grazing is in most cases itself the cause of the 

 existence of blanks, and nothing can be worse for a forest than to 

 allow men and cattle the free run of it It is, therefore, necessary 

 to close, in a permanent manner, against both man and beast, 

 such cantons as have naturally become blank or are placed under 

 unfavorable conditions for close forest growth, where, for instance, 

 the slopes are abrupt, where hard rock crops up in every part, 

 where the elevation is great, &c. To close such places could meaa 

 no loss to the grazier. 



Cattle cannot be allowed into forests worked by Selection, for 

 in snch forests every canton may be said to be continually under 

 regeneration, and all the age-classes are necessarily mixed up in 

 the most confused manner. Hereis an unanswerable reason for 

 abandoning the Selection System for the Xatural Method, when- 

 ever that is practicable, in forests in which grazing cannot be 

 stopped. Wben this change is impracticable, there is only one 

 conrse left open, viz. to divide the forest into two portions, aban- 

 doDinv one, containing of course, the best soils, completely to 

 the grazier, and reserving the other for treatment by Selection, 

 free for ever of all rights and protected by means of good bound- 

 aries. With any other arrangement the forest is bound to 

 disappear. 



The creation and maintenance of what we may term grazing 

 forests, the salvation of the A'ps, requires the same precautionary 

 measures as those described for timber forests, viz., effective clos- 

 incr, by means of ravines chosen as boundaries, or of fencing and 

 earthworks, during a sufficiently long period ; the substitution of 

 cows for sheep ; restriction of the number of head of cattle ad- 

 mitted; and, lastly, temporary rest for the soil and herbage from 

 time to tima 



