Fir, then no method can be recommended except that felling operations be conducted by the proprietor's own woodmen acting under the direct supervision of the forester or wood-bailiff. Damage to the seedling-crop is almost necessarily unavoidable to a greater or less extent; yet it is most likely to be reduced to a minimum when the full control and the responsibility for the conduct of the operations rests entirely with the forester.

That the forester should then, with regard to the actual work of felling, endeavour to meet the wishes or suggestions of the timber-merchant, is, or should be, a matter of course; for the mutual interests of both lie in being reasonable and accommodating. Over-reaching on the part of any woodbuyer would be sure to defeat itself ultimately.

When the timber is sold by measurement at a certain rate per cubic ft., a proper and clear understanding should be entered into, as to

(1.) The allowance to be made for the thickness of the bark ;
(2.) What size of branches is to be measured as timber;
(3.) How far out to the small ends of the trees the measurements
are to be taken;

(4.) The allowance to be made for any unforeseen rot or other
deficiency in the trees; and

(5.) Whether the branch wood is to belong to the proprietor or the timber merchant.

Very important disputes may arise on any of these points. Unless, in the case of selling by measurement, the forester guard himself by previously entering into a proper understanding with the woodmerchant on all these matters, the latter may take advantage of him, and in all probability get the best of the dispute. All differences on specified points, however, can be obviated by selling at a certain rate. per tree, or at so much for the whole lot of trees to be disposed of; and if the timber be carefully valued beforehand, this is often the better arrangement for all parties.

Whether timber be felled by the proprietor's own woodmen or by the purchaser, the forester should compel the men to cut the trees as low as possible, both in order to ensure the largest possible quantity of timber being realised from them, and to prevent large stumps remaining. This object can be always materially assisted by clearing away the turf or earth from the base of the trees with a spade, and thus removing anything that may be likely to interfere with the axe and saw in the operation of felling low, also by trimming or hewing well down with the axe all the tops of the roots standing up and projecting like buttresses above the ground in forming the junction with the stem. This should be done to such an extent that the circle of the stem of the tree to be felled shall be equal down to the earth, when it can be cut through with the cross-cutting saw in the usual way.

234

Singular as it may seem that timber merchants should fell their trees in such a way as to leave about 6 to 12 in. of the butt end of

Fig. 272.

Fig. 274.

Gripper and Turning-Hook.

Fig. 275.

Fig. 273.

each stem standing above ground on the stocks, still it is a fact that they generally do so when left to themselves as regards felling. This

probably arises partly from their want of personal knowledge in the practical operations of felling, partly from their being imposed upon by the men with whom they contract for the performance of the work, partly from sheer carelessness, and partly from a desire to have the work done on the cheapest scale possible. It is therefore necessary that foresters should look after their employers' interests in this matter. If 6 in. of the butt end of a stem be left on the stock, this will mean a loss of at least about the whole price of 1 cubic ft. of timber. And where the transaction involves some thousands of trees, the loss will probably amount to far more than the forester's yearly salary; hence the necessity of attention to what may in themselves appear small matters.

Useful instruments for handling felled timber are exhibited in Figs. 272 to 277. Fig. 272 represents the long-handled toothed-hook known as the Krempe in Southern Germany, or the Sapine in France. The purchase

that can be obtained by a workman over a log into which he has driven its point can hardly be believed until actually witnessed. Fig. 273 represents the floating-hook attached at the end of a long pole, and used more particularly during drifting or floating operations. Fig. 274 exhibits the gripper and turning-hook, the method of using which is clearly illustrated in Fig. 278. Fig. 275 shows the dragging clip or shears, for catching hold of logs that are to be dragged by horses or oxen to the nearest roadway. Figs. 276 and 277 represent the dragging pin and the shoe, used principally with soft woods and conifers instead of the dragging shears.

The Practical Work of Felling.-The best time for conducting felling operations depends, like nearly every operation in sylviculture, to a great extent on the nature of the crop and on local circumstances in particular. In Britain there is no practical reason why, with the exception of the specific case of harvesting bark at the time of the most active flow of the sap, the greater part of the felling operations should not be conducted during the late autumn, winter, and early spring months, when, even in

purely agricultural districts, labour is only too often in want of employment. In some of the Continental forest tracts heavy snowfall prevents work in the higher-lying coniferous woodlands during winter, and practically restricts forest operations of all sorts to the milder seasons of the year; but in Britain no such climatic conditions may be said to prevail. And it is a well-known fact not only that the quality of the mature wood is better, but also that less damage is done to young seedling growths and neighbouring trees when the fall of timber takes place during the hibernal period of non-active vegetation. From the purely theoretical point of view, it seems to the editor that felling in late autumn, just after the fall of the leaf, must be the most favourable time so far as the technical quality of the wood is concerned; for during the winter and early spring months the cambial layers of the stem gradually get filled with water, which rises from the soil by capillary attraction, until, with growing atmospheric temperature in spring, the flushing of the buds and the movement of the sap indicate the re-awakening of active vegetation for the season. The minimum of moisture in the tree must naturally be contained immediately after the fall of the leaf; hence from

Fig. 279.

then till the time at which there is the maximum of moisture in the stem, i.e., probably at the end of July or the beginning of August, when the summer flush of shoots and foliage occurs, the technical quality of the wood will gradually decline, whereas from that same time till the minimum point is again reached it will gradually improve. Other considerations also require to be taken into account; for in wood felled in summer when containing a maximum of moisture, and exposed to the highest temperature of the year, the shrinkage both diametrally and tangentially will be considerably greater than at any other time of the year, i.e., there will be more damage done in the way of surface cracks and star-like flaws at the ends of the log. In the autumn felling the technical injury to the wood from evaporation and shrinkage will of course be least, owing to the reason above indicated.

1. Felling with the axe alone may take place in the manner indicated in Fig. 279. The stem is first laid in by making out a wedge-shaped cleft at a, on the side to which the stem is desired to be thrown, and as deep down as possible; this must penetrate as far as, or slightly beyond, the heart or central point of the trunk. The second cleft, b, must be made on the opposite side of the stem, and should be so laid in that the apex of the angle formed by it should just come above that formed by a. When there is likely to be any difficulty about the stem falling in the exact direction desired, a round branch may be inserted into b, and then a wedge or wedges below it, and as these are driven home the stem is forced over. It is astonishing how exactly skilled woodmen in Germany can make stems fall in almost any desired position. In felling large timber trees of valuable species by means of the axe alone, the roots are often cut through and partially hollowed out, in order to allow the workmen to lay in with the axe as far down as possible.

2. Felling with the saw alone can only take place in the case of small stems by simply sawing through from the opposite side to which the fall is desired, and then pushing the stem over. But with larger trunks a cut

should be made first of all on the side to which the fall is desired, and to a depth of 4 to 6 in., or more if the saw work freely, and then a second cut on the side directly opposite to that. When the saw has penetrated to some depth, it will be sure to get jammed, so as to hinder it working freely, and then wedges must be made use of to keep the slot or cut open. These wedges, which require to be driven home from time to time, at the same time act directly in forcing the stem slightly over to the side on which the fall is desired; and finally it is by means of these that the fall is accomplished.

Fig. 280.

3. Felling with Axe and Saw. This is practically the best method. The operation is performed in the manner represented in Fig. 280. A cleft, ab, which should penetrate to about to of the diameter of the stem, is first of all laid in with the axe on the side to which the fall is desired, and in the form shown in the illustration-i.e., as nearly horizontal as possible in the base-and then the saw is applied at c on the opposite side. Here again wedges will be required in order to enable the saw to work freely, and to assist in ultimately throwing the stem.

The first requirement to be made in felling timber is that it should enable the stem to be thrown in any particular direction, whilst at the same time enabling the largest possible quantity of timber to be removed in the log; and these objects are combined better by felling with axe and saw than by using either of these implements alone. According to Gayer (op. cit., p. 185), by this method there is a loss of only 1 to 1 per cent. of the timber; whereas in the methods recommended by the author, and in that of cutting through the roots and hollowing out a cup-shaped stump, the actual waste of wood amounts in large trees to from 4 to 7 per cent., and in poles to from 2 to 2 per cent. of the total outturn.

As regards the quantity of bark that may be reckoned to the different classes of wood, Gayer makes the following remarks (ibid.):

"The loss of bark in working up the different kinds of wood amounts to 4 per cent. of the quantity of timber worked up in the case of Beech and other smooth-barked trees of broad-leaved species, 7 per cent. in Oak and other rough-barked trees of broad-leaved species, 8 to 11 per cent. in Pine, Spruce, and Silver Fir, and 15 to 18 per cent. in Larch and Black Pines."

The method of felling with axe and saw is certainly that generally most economical; but it is often not practicable on very steep hill-sides, or for stems of very large dimensions that must be cut in all round about even although a good deal of wood is thereby wasted; and, of course, in thick crops of young pole-forest, the axe must be employed where there is not sufficient space for a free use of the long two-handed timber-saws.

Various arrangements exist in order to supply purchase and leverage in throwing the stems and thus facilitating felling operations. Fig. 281 exhibits a method largely practised in the Black Forest, where felling takes place with the axe alone, in order to secure the fall of the stem in a particular direction. After the two wedge-shaped cuts have been laid in at the