46 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



out to be the ends of stems or logs, which, after sliding down from 

 above, buried themselves deep into the soft soil, and then cither 

 broke or were cut off. An arrangement for avoiding this, by- 

 receiving the ends of the logs on a wooden staging, similar to that 

 previously described, seems to have been required here. We saw 

 many dry timber slides ; and the banks of the river for long dis- 

 tances are revetted with poles, to facilitate the passage of the rafts. 

 Much damage is here done by the ice, Avliich, during the winter 

 months, frequently collects at various points in the stream, thus 

 forming a temporary barrier, which dams back the current ; and 

 when this bursts, the works are liable to be either washed away, or 

 seriously injured. The floating work begins in the spring, when 

 the river is fuller than at any other time, loose round logs about 

 16 feet long, intended to be sawn up into planks, being the first 

 timber launched on it. In the summer, the rafting commences, 

 the reservoirs being used when necessary ; and later in the year, 

 when the supply of water in them is failing, loose pieces of firewood 

 are floated down. 



The prevailing winds sweep down the side valleys which descend 

 from the south-east ; and the trees standing on the opposite side of 

 the main stream are liable to be overturned by them ; but there are 

 not nearly so many windfalls here as in the Mdrmaros-Sziget and 

 BustyahAza forests. 



A few years ago, the young pine stems, taken out in the course 

 of thinning, could be sold for use in the smelting furnaces ; but 

 nowadays the consumption of them for this purpose is less than 

 formerly, and it is very difficult to dispose of such produce. 



We inspected the Rasztoki reservoir, which lies near the head of 

 the valley, and contains 1| million cubic feet of water; it has a 

 canal alongside of it, down which the water, entering at the upper 

 end, can be diverted, when it is desired to float loose pieces of 

 timber from forests lying higher up. They are carried over the 

 dam, by a canal slide with a steep fall, into the stream below. On 

 our return to the forest house, we visited some plantations of 

 spruce, which were put out hj clumps of two or three in each hole. 

 In the afternoon we went down the river on rafts to Lipto-Ujvilr, 

 passing through the most beautiful scenery, and shot down two 

 river slides, the descent of which, if not so difficult and dangerous 

 as at Brusztura, was sufficiently exciting, and gave us a good wetting. 

 We landed at the wood dep6t, and proceeded at once to the house 

 of the Conservator, with whose family we afterwards went to a ball, 



