403 



curve the outer side of the curve has two tree .trunks laid one 

 above the other to counteract the centrifugal tendency of the 

 timber rushing down the " slide." The track, or bottom, of the 

 slide is laid with crosspieces of beech, which are about 2 ft. 6 in. 

 apart. Where the " slide " takes a curve the track is sloped 

 inwards on the same principle, and for the same reason, as is a 

 railway track in similar circumstances. The fall of the "slide" 

 follows pretty much the face of the mountain side, but occasionally 

 it has to be bridged over gorges and watercourses, and sometimes 

 "cuttings" have to be made through ridges. The "slide" I 

 inspected was in some places only 20 per cent, out of the perpen- 

 dicular — equal to an angle of 72 degrees. In such places the 

 enormous trunks fly down with a tremendous velocity. In other 

 places the fall of one section of the slide is so gentle that it is 

 only used in wet weather when the track is kept slippery by 

 rain. Thus are these enormous tree trunks transferred from the 

 mountain plateau to the valleys. They are dispatched with the 

 thick end of the trunk first, and this is slightly sharpened or 

 rounded to reduce the risk of its being impeded by the sides of 

 the track. And for the same reason the trunks are, of course, 

 carefully trimmed before they are sent off. This timber-slide cost 

 40,000 kronen (about £1,650) to construct without counting the 

 value of the timber used, which was mostly on the spot. 



The woodmen — an admirable type— live in these forests all 

 the year round, only going home to their villages from Saturday 

 night until Monday morning. Through the week they live, a 

 dozen or so together, in commodious wooden houses built of logs 

 of timber. They sleep on broad shelves liberally supplied with 

 straw, and each man has his private locker. During the week 

 their food consists almost entirely of the grey rye- bread of the 

 district. Their costume is a short jacket, a serviceable pair of 

 leather breeches cut to well above the knee, and leggings not 

 reaching to the knee, which is thus left bare. 



The English Garden at Munich. June 19. 



The "English Garden" at Munich is one of the most noted 

 public gardens in Germanv ; at one time it was (and, perhaps, 

 now is) the largest— containing about 500 acres. The chief essen- 

 tial of these so-called English Gardens of the Continent appears to 

 be that they must not contain a straight line of any sort. No 

 doubt they represented a very necessary .revulsion against me 

 school of Le Notre, but they erred as much in another direction. 

 This English Garden at Munich was designed in 1780 by a famous 

 man of his time—Louis Sckell-and appears to have long been 

 considered an admirable piece of work. No dcrabt it afford » tlie 

 People of Munich an abundance of shady walks and P~^nadej, 

 but of genuine landscape effects there are few. It is well juppnea 

 *ith water by means of a stream which flows through it, and in 

 one place this is very happily used to make a waterfall • "»«£ 

 feeds a lake of considerable size, which gives some , prettj prospects 

 and a welcome distance of view. The great need of this garden 

 is one or two broad straight avenues to give some seiwe_ of space 

 and distance, for the place is heaviy wooded %$**<* P* ™ 

 the lake and a few stretches of hay-land, one s outlook is very 



