88 French Property News August 2019 http://www.completefrance.com
Jeremy Hobson solves more of your pastoral problems
RURAL RIDDLES
It all stacks up
We have woodland at our house in the Haute Garonne and have
been trying to coppice parts in order to encourage regrowth.
Unfortunately, the local roe deer population seems to rather like
the new shoots as they emerge. It’s impractical to fence either the
trees or the area. Have you any tips?
Tom Waddington
Roe deer numbers are increasing throughout Europe, not just in
France. Your particular area – unfortunately for your trees – contains a
rather large number of these beautiful but slightly destructive animals.
The most practical and simplest suggestion I can make is that, when
you’ve cut and coppiced the trees, you use some of the lighter branches
and ‘frith’ to cover where the new shoots will eventually emerge. This
will give them a modicum of protection and a chance to grow before
the deer see them as their next meal!
Roe deary me
Most of our French neighbours (and also any we notice in passing
during our car journeys) stack the logs for their wood-burning
stoves and fires very neatly in long columns and mostly under a
corrugated tin roof. However, one we noticed recently (see left) was
cylindrical in build. Is it a personal fad of the stack-builder or was
there a specific reason do you think?
Ray WellesDepending on where you noticed it, and assuming that it was indeed a log
pile rather than a wildlife conservationist’s construction intended as a
somewhat overlarge insect/bug hotel, it looks as if what you saw was
based on a pattern much favoured in Scandinavian countries. From the
outside, all looks very neat and tidy, but one of the greatest benefits of
building a log pile like this (as opposed to ‘square’ stacking in the
conventional manner) is that, were you to look more closely, only the
round walls are stacked and the content of the centre of the pile is quite
haphazardly thrown in just as one might deposit things into a rubbish bin.
Once the logs have been added to the inside of the ‘bin’, a sloping roof of
sorts is generally added in order to protect the contents from the elements.
Perhaps understandably, given their long winters and cold weather
conditions, those who live a Nordic lifestyle consider wood collecting
and stacking of great importance and their techniques are emulated in
many other countries – so much so that, Norwegian Wood Chopping,
Stacking, and Drying Wood the Scandinavian Way, written by Lars
Mytting, won ‘non-fiction book of the year’ in 2016!
Wood pile Nordic-styleDeer love new tree shoots – cover them with
branches to give a degree of protectionWhilst making arrangements to borrow sheep to graze our paddock,
the farmer gave us the ‘grand tour’ of his livestock and buildings – and,
looking at some part-grown cattle, we noticed sprigs of holly hanging
over the loose-box. It being a bit late for Christmas decorations (it was
May) we looked quizzical... whereupon the farmer told us that it was
there to protect his young stock from attacks of ‘teigne’, which we later
discovered to be ringworm. Was he pulling our leg? Surely holly cannot
prevent/cure what seems to be a transmissible infection skin disease.
Freddie and Julia MillsNo, he wasn’t! There are many who still think that a bunch of holly
suspended above a batch of cattle will clear up ringworm (Trichophyton
verrucosum), which can affect many mammals, including humans and
cattle. In young cattle, it is most commonly seen around their eyes and
ears and, although it doesn’t look very pretty, will mostly heal itself in
time. Vaccination against ringworm is possible in some countries but
many, such as your French farmer, think that it can be curtailed with holly.
While it’s known that holly contains a number of fungicidal and
insecticidal chemicals,
exactly what particular
element may provide the
preventative/cure for
ringworm is unknown,
but it is generally
thought that male holly- which has no berries
and sharper leaves – is
the most effective option.
Holly cow!
Fungicidal properties in holly are thought
to help protect cattle from ringworm