Grazing. 



17 



been iu successful co-operation since the autumn of 1911. Through 

 Act of the 1916 Legislature, with specific appropriation available 

 October 1, 1916, for fire protective work, greater Federal aid has been 

 secured. The State has also been able to generally extend this work, 

 with the promise of increased efficiency. 



Grazing: The practice of using woodlots for pasture is common 

 throughout the State, but particularly so in the Piedmont and in the 

 mountain sections of Garrett County. In the mountain forests, 

 especially in those of Garrett, cattle, sheep, and hogs are allowed to 

 range freely on unfeneed lands. Under the conditions, grazing in 

 itself does no particular damage to the forest, since stock has such a 

 wide range that close grazing is not possible. But the chief damage 

 is incidental to grazing, and lies in the deliberate setting of fires in 

 the woodlands to burn off the forest and promote a growth of grass. 

 The enforcement of the fire laws, together with the increase of the 

 farming interests of the county, is lessening this practice to the extent 

 that marked improvement locally has been observed in the last four 

 years. 



As a, local forest problem, the use of woodlands for pasture may be 

 worked out with a fair degree of accuracy. It is an established fact 

 that a woodlot will not serve satisfactorily as pasture land, and at the 

 same time perform its greatest function in timber and wood produc- 

 tion. The one is inimical to the other. If the woodland is fully 

 stocked, as it must be for greatest wood production, then the ground 

 will be so completely utilized and shaded by forest cover as to prevent 

 the growth of grass or other forage ; on the other hand, if the wood- 

 land is sufficiently open to permit a growth of grass, then it will not 

 produce a full crop of timber and it is only a question of time until 

 the tree growth disappears. The effect of pasturing is primarily to 

 destroy the small seedlings and younger reproduction which nature 

 has provided for the renewal of the forest and the maintenance of its 

 proper density. The soil is packed by the trampling of cattle and 

 becomes hard and dry. Open places soon appear in the forest, and 

 if this destruction of reproduction is permitted to continue even the 

 growth of the larger trees will be serioush^ hampered. Instead of 

 timber with long, clear stems, the trees will be short, limby, and of 

 poor quality. 



There are, of course, some advantages in tlie use of the woodlot for 

 cattle other than in the pasturing that it affords ; as, for example, a 

 place where they may escape the hot sun, and where they may be able 

 to brush off' troublesome insects. Under certain conditions these uses 

 may not be particularly detrimental to the woodlot itself. In a wood- 

 lot fully stocked with young growth which has reached a sufficient 



