69

H.—sb

belong to the military establishments. Each forest guard has charge of a sub-division of the district: he is employed to protect the forest and generally to assist the district forest officer in his sub-division, but iu all matters of discipline he is subordinate to a superior military officer at Stuttgart, who is a member of the Central Board (Forst direction). Regarding the transport of wood and timber, and the impregnation of timber, the following ' remarks may be found acceptable ; they are an extract of a report which I drew up on the subject in ' July, 1872. In this respect also the Black Forest is one of the most instructive forest regions. The country is hilly, difficult, and large qauntities of long and heavy logs are exported from it annually. The floating of timber has gradually diminished with the increase of railways, but on the rivers Kinzig and Nagold, and their tributaries, large timber is still floated to a considerable extent, and under arrangements which are extremely instructive. March and April are the best months to study the floating on these small rivulets,* the peculiarity being, that by storing up water in tanks and reservoirs, an artificial flood is produced which floats down the long narrow rafts, several hundred yards long, though the flood itself is not more than about twice the length of the raft. Ido not know of any forest district in India where the same arrangements could be made ; but circumstances regarding the carriage of timber are never the same in any two places. People who have studied the transport of timber in Europe will, when brought to India, see that they have only learnt how difficulties of a similar nature have been overcome under circumstances widely different. Three points are of special importance here in the land transport; first, the moving of the heavy logs down to the nearest road or slide; secondly, the construction of timber roads ; thirdly, the use of these roads and of other lines as timber slides. In the Black Forest all fellings, as a rule, take place in summer, and the timber is being brought to the roads until autumn ; but the construction of slides and the sliding down takes place in October and November. The locality most conveniently situated to study these matters is Rippoldsau, a small watering-place situated in the midst of the wellknown forest belonging to the Prince of Furstenberg, which is surrounded by other instructive forests belonging to Baden and Wurtemberg, partly State partly communal forests. The system of timber roads in the Rippoldsau district is admirable. To study the system of land and water transport employed in the different forest districts of the Black Forest, it would be necessary to devote part of August, September, October, and November to it, and to visit during that time the following places, — Rippoldsau, the valley of the Murg, St. Blasien, in Baden, Freudenstadt, and Wildbad, in Wurtemberg. I do not know of any forests so extensive as the Black Forest, where the moving of long and heavy timber over difficult ground by means of simple appliances is done in a manner equally efficient, economical, and with the same care for the young growth of the forest. In Bavaria two extensive forest tracts are specially important for the transport of timber. In the " Baierische Wald," which covers the hills north of the Danube between Passau and Regensburg, the arrangements made to facilitate the floating on the rivers Ilz and Regen and their tributaries are worth studying, and in the eastern Bavarian Alps (Salinenbezirk), both the land and water carriage of the wood required to feed the saltworks of Berchtesgaden, Reichenhall, Traunstein, and Rosenheim is instructive. July and August are, I believe, the best months for these districts. However, there is this drawback, that a small proportion only of the wood is timber; most of it consists of small pieces for burning. Nevertheless, a great deal that is suggestive for our Himalayan forests may be learnt in the Bavarian Alps. • In Austria, the most instructive arrangements for the transport of wood with which I am personally acquainted are those made to provide the large quicksilver works of Idria with wood for fuel. I visited them in 1865, and forest officers who have time to spare during their leave will do well to devote a week to their study. Idria is about thirty miles distant from Loitsch, the nearest station on the Trieste-Laibach Railway. The wood is carried on temporary tramways, which are built with great care over most difficult ground, whenever fellings commence in any forest tract, and which are broken up, and the timbers which form the roadway and viaduct sent down, after they have served the purpose of carrying the yield of the forest tract felled to one of the small streams down which the wood is floated to the works. The dams and spurs constructed for storing up water in these streams, and for regulating their course, are as instructive as the system of these temporary timber tramways. In the Italian (formerly Austrian) Alps north of Venice, the carriage of timber (not of firewood) offers much that is interesting and suggestive to Indian forest officers. The forests arc the property of the communes (towns and villages) in the valleys of the River Piave and Tagliamento and their feeders. The timber which is yielded by these forests is shipped at Trieste and Venice, and is an important source of supply for the countries in the eastern part of the Mediterranean. I visited these forests in 1865, and found that the lumberers of Friaul were extremely skilful in managing the land and water transport of their timber under exceedingly difficult circumstances. Temporary timber slides similar to the tramways of Idria, are built down the hill slopes, or on timber viaducts across ravines, and as the operations in one locality arc completed, the timber composing these structures is sent down after the rest. Under Austrian rule, these forests were under efficient supervision, which was exercised by the officers of the State Forest Department, and in consequence they yielded a steady annual revenue, from which the communities in those valleys built churches, school-houses, town halls, and constructed a system of admirable roads. I have rarely been struck more forcibly by the beneficial effects of well-managed communal property upon the well-being of the population of small towns and villages than in this instance, and on this account also a visit to these forests by Indian forest officers would be useful. One of the main points to which the attention of forest officers visiting the localities mentioned should be directed is the use of the different sorts of levers and other tools which the lumberers employ. Some of these tools may merit imitation in India. The pick-lever (Krempe, Sapine), is one of the most important, and the different forms of it which are used in the Schwarzwald, the Bavarian Alps, Idria, and Friaul, should be carefully noted. * Floating, however, often takes place during summer also.

Working of thfl forests.

Land transport in the Black Porest.

Wood transport in Bavaria.

Idria.

Friaul.

Tools used.