Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1903-11-07
Economic Use Of Steep Slopes.


there are many hills with slopes too
steep to be cultivated. Many of
these slopes have been cleared and
form parts of pastures Tor sheep and
cattle. They are of little value for
grazing, because little grass can
grow on them. The bare soil is en-
posed in trodden paths made by the
stock and it any tree seedlings APP
pear, they are nipped off at once
before they have chance to gain a
permanent foothold. Finally the
unprotected soil begins to wash after
some particularly heavy rain, espec-
tally one following period of dry
weather. This is the beginning of
the end. Each succeeding shower
carries down its quota of soil and
stones and forms channel of con-
stantly increasing width and depth,
carrying corresponding quantities OF
material. This loose soil is carried
down by the water until it reaches
a gentler slope, where the lessened
force of water causes it to he de-
posted on grazing land, on the pub
lie highway, on meadow land, or in
the garden, according to circum'
stances.
Would it not be worth while for
the owner to fence off from his pas
ture steep slopes of this kind and
allow tree seeds from neighboring
woodlands to take possession of the
ground? The cases in this locality
where seed trees are not within reach
are rare and the cost of such action
would be simply the cost of the
fencing. This would seldom need
to be complete, for a slight ohstruc-
ton up and down the slopes alone
would prevent the entrance of stock,
which would neither climb up from
below nor down from above. The
results to be expected would be Il
growth of trees where nothing grew
before, the soil would cease to
wash from constantly increasing
areas to descend and cover more
fertile land with layer of poor soil.
The loss in pasturage would be in
appreciable, because the stock could
not feed there, but merely pass
over the ground in going from one
part of the pasture to another. If
the washing should gain too great a
start before action is taken, it would
be necessary to aid the seeding by
planting. This would add consid-
cradle cost, but in many cases il
would be good economy to plant on
small areas for the sake of protec-
ton.
In this connection also may be
mentioned the clearing away of
bushes and small trees from the
banks of brooks. To say that this
is work thrown away is to far I'M
derstate the case. The writer has
seen an entire days work done BY
three men and yoke of oxen sim
ply to stop the washing out of a
bank which had not washed away
one inch in ten years until the
bushes were cleared away. These
bushes, trees and weeds hold the
soil with their roots, lessen the dam
age by freshets, make better cover
for trout and cost nothing-except
when they are cleared away. If a
few additional square yards are put
under cultivation after the clearance,
they are generally washed away
shortly and few more besides.
A brief statement of what forestry
is and what it is not should have
been placed at the beginning OF
these articles, but as it was not
add it at the end:
Forestry is the art, based upon
various sciences, of causing to grow
on areas unsuited to more valuable
crops, the greatest possible amount
of the best timber and other forest
products in the shortest time and at
minimum cost. Consequently,
it is not landscape gardening or ar
chitecture; it has not for its object
the preservation of all living trees
without rhyme or reason except the
hackneyed and misapplied motto,
ooh, woodman, spare that tree"
1t is not the name of a society Or
ganized for the planting of shade
trees by the roadsides, nor do those
who practice it constitute a secret
fraternal organization, known as
the Order of Foresters.