3G TRAXSACTIOXS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



water, at different levels, each provided with a wooden sluice gate 

 raised by levers. When the reservoir is about to be used, some 

 30 rafts, of from 12 to 24 trees each, are collected below it, lying 

 in the shallow water, and anchored to the bank. The sluice gates 

 are then opened, and, when the head of rushing water has passed 

 the leading raft half an hour, the latter is let go, and the other rafts 

 are loosed in succession at intervals of five or six minutes. The 

 reservoir empties itself in about four hours, the temporary flood 

 thus caused increasing the depth of the stream by about 2| feet, 

 which enables the rafts to float easily over the stones and rocks 

 with which the bed is lined, until they reach the larger river. 

 Meanwhile the sluice gates having been closed, the reservoir is 

 allowed to refill itself. 



The workmen engaged in forming the rafts use a very conveniently 

 formed lever for moving the timber down to the water's edge, 

 where the small ends of the logs are laid down stream, and then 

 firmly secured by means of a stout wooden cross-piece, pegged down 

 to a level bed axed out to receive it ; the ends are rounded off 

 below so as to facilitate the passage of the raft over sunken rocks 

 and other obstacles. The heavier extremities of the logs are not 

 fixed in this manner, but are loosely attached by means of willows, 

 oak saplings, or spruce branches, which, after having been passed 

 through the fire, are twisted into ropes, and then forced into holes 

 drilled into the logs ; they are kept there by means of pegs firmly 

 driven in beside them. There are usually three such ropes, one 

 from each outer log to the fourth or fifth log counting inwards, and 

 a third joining these two across the middle of the raft. The heavy 

 ends are thus allowed sufficient play to enable them to pass over 

 rocks which they might otherwise catch on. A wooden pivot for 

 an oar to work on is erected at each end of the raft. 



On our way back from the reservoir we paid a visit to the 

 married priest of the Russian church, who received us most hospi- 

 tably, and after dining with the ofiicer in charge of the division, 

 we went down to the forest house at Raho, where, having driven 

 sixty-nine miles during the day, we passed the night. 



We left Raho on the morning of the 5th, in a shower of rain, 

 and ascended the valley of the northern branch of the Tisza, where 

 a few silver firs were seen mixed among the spruce. The latter 

 tree is ordinarily felled at the age of from 100 to 120 years, when 

 it has in this locality a diameter of from 18 to 20 inches ; but the 

 present being the first fellings since the framing of the working 



