Silviculture and Cinegetics Review - Societatea Progresul Silvic

FORESTRY BELTS SILVICULTURE AND CINEGETICS REVIEW XVII/30/2012
woods, where the woody vegetation, the grassy carpet
and the animals that use them live in harmony.
The communal pastures before the collectivization of
agriculture were mostly equipped with various species
of trees for shading for the animals.
The species of trees and sometimes fruit trees used
mainly for shading, were chosen based on the stationary
conditions: willow and poplar in floodplains, locust,
oak, sessile oak, ash, wild pear, walnut, etc. in plains
and hills, beech, fir, spruce and other species in the
mountain area.
Even now, the groves and secular oaks of Cristian,
Hărman, Dăişoara, Fişer – BV, Reghin – MS, Ţigăneşti
–BC, Remetea – BH, Poşmuş – BN, Dioşti – DJ and
others are here to bear witness. Among them stands the
secular oak of Păşmuş – Şieu which in 2006 reached the
impressive age of 600 years, being probably the oldest
tree in Romania (Maruşca, 2006).
Unfortunately, many of these secular oaks were burned,
cleared, vandalized, without plating anything in their
place, the animals on the pastures now feeling the full
effects of the summer sun and sunburn, with reduction
of milk and meat production.
3.3.The fruit trees system – grasslands and
pastures
In some areas of hills and depressions there are orchards
with grass used as hay-fields or pastures for animals.
The most common species are: plum, followed by
apple, pear, walnut, etc., grown extensively and with
uneven production from year to year.
Thus, it was created a mixed management system,
orchard-grassland, which has proven efficiency both to
produce fruit with minimum intervention, and used as
hay-field, or by grazing animals. The latter benefit from
the shadow and fruits attacked by pests and diseases are
used as supplementary feed.
In orchards located on steep slopes in the hilly area the
fruit trees also have an anti-erosion role and stabilize the
land against landslides
A special case is the alignment of mulberry trees along
the roads where the geese on pastures supplement their
food with mulberries during July-August when grass
becomes fewer. Many of these grassy orchard systems
are derelict, only a few are still maintained in individual
households of the Subcarpathians in the Vrancea,
Buzău, Prahova, Argeş, Dâmboviţa and Vâlcea
counties.
3.4. The terrace system with arable land, slope
with hay-filed and row of fruit trees
One of the most interesting complex systems of slope
agricultural land management is the terracing for arable
crops, with grassed slopes, used as hay-field and a row
of fruit trees on the upper edge of the slope, especially
specific in southwestern Transylvania. For centuries this
system has ensured grain crops, hay for livestock and
fruits for direct consumption or conservation, while
protecting soil against surface or deep erosion on steep
slopes. Unfortunately, this system too is largely
abandoned, being invaded by unworthy herbaceous or
woody vegetation.
Return to the old system of effective capitalization of
the arable land—hay-field—fruit trees terrains with
modern means of mechanization, organic fertilizer from
livestock in the households and other measures of
biological agriculture and tourism, would have a great
future in these defavorized areas with major natural
handicaps.
3.5. Protection of traditional systems
Photo 4. Orchard with grass
In our country it is found that there were and still are in
some form, different agroforestry systems that need to
be better known and reconsidered in the future.
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