40 TRANSACTION'S OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



of the Tardcz and the Conservatorship of Bustyahdza, and were 

 met by the officer in charge of the forest division we were entering. 

 On our way down, a portion of an area of 9 square miles of spruce 

 forest was pointed out to us as having been completely destroyed 

 by insects {Bostrichus typographus) in 1862 ; and we then passed 

 through a forest where, six years ago, the large beech trees, then 

 standing over the young spruce, were cut out ; the latter are 

 now making most satisfactory progress. There are a great many 

 petroleum wells on the northern slopes of the Carpathians, in 

 Galicia ; and search, which has proved fairly successful, is now 

 being made for the oil on the Hungarian side. 



We continued to descend the valley until we reached the Turbat 

 reservoir, the construction of which occupied six months, and cost 

 £9G0. It contains 8-J- million cubic feet of water. The dam is 36 

 feet high, 170 feet long, and is furnished with a sluice gate, which 

 a single workman can easily open and close by means of a lever. 

 This system, which is a new one, has answered so well, that it will 

 now be adopted in all new works. The timber from these forests 

 is floated a distance of 93 miles down the Taracz, to its junction 

 with the Tisza, six reservoirs being provided, all in the upper 

 portion of the valley. The highest of these is at Turbat, and the 

 others, which are constructed in side valleys, are used to aflfurd the 

 needful depth of water further down, where the bed has become 

 wider. The first raft is not let go at Turbat until the reservoir has 

 been opened for one hour. At Hoverla the time allowed was half 

 an hour only ; but there the slope was only 1-20 per 100, whereas 

 here it is from 8 to 10 per 100 ; consequently, as the rafts go 

 faster than the water, a longer time is required to elapse before the 

 first raft is let go. The bed is very rocky, and the floating work is 

 both difficult and dangerous, scarcely a year passing without loss 

 of life by one or more of the men employed on it. The starting of 

 the rafts is a remarkable sight. They are moored to the bank ; 

 and when all is ready, the men stand, almost naked, upon them. 

 Suddenly the expected sound of the rushing water reaches them 

 from above, when all cross themselves and fall on their knees in 

 prayer. The forester holds his watch, and when time is up he 

 gives the word ; the crew of the first raft then spring up, seize 

 their axes, and cut away the moorings, the raft being at once carried 

 down on its perilous voyage. Then, after the proper interval, the 

 word is given to the second raft, and so on till all have been dis- 

 patched. The reservoir empties itself in from 6 to 8 hours, and 



