l8o REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



capital itself is reduced. The forester leaves this wood capital as long as interest 

 continues to add to it satisfactorily. Then when the- growth declines, whether 

 on account of insect attack, disease, or old age, until it no longer warrants 

 leaving the timber in the forest, it is removed, the forester taking the trunks 

 and limbs and the peasant gathering up the brush and often digging out the 

 stumps, although these also are not infrequently taken care of by the forester 

 and placed on the market, bringing always a price sufficient at least to pay the 

 cost of their removal. 



Everywhere in the woods of southern Europe may be seen people gathering 

 brush and taking it home in carts, drawn frequently by cows or dogs. Often, 

 however, it is tied into a bundle and carried, sometimes a long distance, strapped 

 on the back or poised on the head. Permission to gather brushwood for fuel is 

 usually given free of charge. In some places a nominal sum is charged; in others 

 the workmen in the woods are granted the privilege- as an extra compensation 

 for their labor. Sometimes with this permission goes also the privilege of 

 gathering leaves and nuts, the leaves being fed to goats, or used as bedding for 

 horses and cattle. The nuts are mostly used as food for domestic animals; 

 but many of the poor people dry the acorns and use them in place of coffee. In 

 the cities of Italy pine cones are peddled on the streets. 



In the Spessart, in Bavaria, it has been so long the privilege of the peasants 

 to gather litter from the forest that it is now considered their right, and even so 

 recognized by law. The privilege has its restrictions, however, which have been 

 stated as follows by Sir Dietrich Brandis: "It must not be exercised in young 

 woods which have not yet attained half the age prescribed by the term of 

 rotation ; * further, an area where litter has been collected must have at least 

 six years' rest before it is again opened for that purpose; and lastly, the areas 

 opened for the collection of litter must be assigned annually by the responsible 

 forest officers, and this is done in accordance with a well-considered plan. Never- 

 theless, the quantity of leaves removed annually is enormous. In spring and 

 autumn long strings of wagons filled with huge mountains of litter leave the forest 

 in every direction, and the result is that the soil does not improve as much as it 

 might, and in places it is much impoverished." f 



In some districts all products of the forest are put upon the market. In a 

 forest belonging to the city of Grabow in Mecklenburg a good layer of leaves 

 and moss sells for sixteen dollars per acre. 



*The term of rotation prescribed for oak is 300, for beech 120, for Scotch pine 96, and for 

 spruce 72 years. 



t Garden and Forest, May, 1894. "Mixed Oak and Beech Forests of the Spessart," by 

 D. Brandis. 



