LEAVES FOR LITTER. 165 



Section III. — Leaves foe littee. 



The leaves of broad-leaved species, when they die and fall off, 

 become so brittle and rot away so quickly, that the only dry leaves 

 that can be used for litter are the fallen needles of conifers. When 

 the leaves of broad-leaved species are cut green and then dried and 

 spread under cattle, the object is more that of providing fodder 

 and of using the leaves directly as a manure than of obtaining an 

 absorbent medium for the easy and convenient collection of the 

 droppings and urine of the animals. Thus nothing more need be 

 said here regarding the use of the green leaves of trees and shrubs 

 than what has already been given in the immediately preceding 

 Section, and consideration must hence be limited exclusively to the 

 utilization of conifer needles. 



The needles of the pine tribe, as they contain the largest propor- 

 tion of fibre, are the best adapted for litter. On the other hand, 

 the needles of the other species of conifers which grow on an exten- 

 sive scale, namely, the firs and deodar, and in certain parts of the 

 Himalayas, also the larch, yield almost as much ash as the leaves 

 of most broad-leaved species, and have, therefore, a high intrinsic 

 manurial value. 



The sweeping away of the entire annual fall of leaves is obvious- 

 ly fatal to the productiveness and maintenance of the forest. But 

 since conifer needles decompose very slowly, and, unless crushed 

 by artificial means, form a thick covering over the ground which 

 prevents all reproduction by seed, the raking away of a portion of 

 the annual fall is more beneficial than hurtful. The operation in 

 question not only diminishes the thickness of this obnoxious cover- 

 ing, but also helps to crush whatever portion of it is left unre- 

 moved. 



The injurious effects following the removal of the layer of dead 

 leaves covering the soil are greatest (1) on sloping ground, especi- 

 ally exposed hill-sides, since the soil there requires all the protection 

 that can be given it to prevent erosion and impoverishment by the 

 rapid downward filtration of water ; (2) on bad soils, in a forcing 

 climate, with naturally quick-growing species, and in youth and in 

 old at;e, for in all these cases the presence of a large quantity of 

 plant-food in the soil is an absolute necessity ; (3) in open forest, 

 where of course every bit of the exiguous annual leaf-fall must be 

 preserved ; (4) in coppice, in which class of forest the soil is more 

 or less completely exposed during half the rotation, so that the 

 protection of the fallen leaves is an absolute necessity during that 

 half, and their preservation and conversion into humus under the 



