FORESTRY IN HUNGARY. 33 



The figures which follow relate to three of the Conservatorships 

 only, as information regarding Bustyah4za was not obtained. 

 During 1884, 15 acres of forest were burnt, 38 acres were carried 

 away by inundations, 142 acres of oak were destroyed by the 

 caterpillars of the processionary moth, Cnethocampa processionea, 

 Stephens; 216 acres of spruce by the typographer beetle, £gs- 

 trichus typograpMis ; and 412,000 cubic feet of timber were blown 

 down or crushed by snow. The comparatively small amount of 

 damage done by fire is explained by the limited extent to which 

 grazing is practised in the forests or these hills. 



There are in these three Conservatorships — 



1135 miles of first and second class roads. 

 139 miles of wet and dry timber slides. 

 494 miles of river used for floating. 

 17 miles of canals used for floating. 



43 reservoirs containing 114,000,000 cubic feet of water, and 

 30 booms aggregating 3844 yards in length. 



MiRMAROS-SziGET. 



On reaching the department of Mdrmaros, we ascended the 

 valley of the Tisza, and arrived at Marmaros-Sziget on the 

 afternoon of the 3d July 1886. Here we were hospitably 

 received at the house of M. Belhazy, Forest Secretary, and at once 

 conducted over the great saw mills, which have been established by 

 private enterprise on the bank of the canal just outside the little 

 town. As we entered the extensive yard we were greatly astonished 

 at the vast quantities of timber by which we were surrounded. 

 Piles of logs, few of them of remarkably large diameter, covered the 

 ground in every direction ; the canal was crammed with rafts, the 

 timber forming which was, we were told, not more than a single 

 day's supply for the saws, while, within one month, the whole yard- 

 full would be placed on the benches, fifteen in number, on which 

 from 18,000 to 21,000 cubic feet of wood are cut-up daily. The 

 machinery appeared to be old-fashioned, the saws cutting on the 

 down stroke only, and being sharpened by hand. The occurrence 

 of a conflagration in the yard would be disastrous ; but as a 

 precautionary measure, a large vat constructed in a central position, 

 is kept full of a fire-extinguishing fluid. A fire of waste wood, lit 

 for the occasion, was extinguished in our presence, in order to show 

 us the eflPect of its use. The timber, which is almost entirely 

 spruce, and comes from the State forests near the head of the 

 Tisza, can be delivered by the Forest Department at the mill for Id. 



VOL. XII., PART I. c 



