r»0 TUANSACTIONS OK KOVAL SCOTTISH AUUORICULTURAL SOCU'TV. 



thence drove to Roincz, to the bouse of the officer in charge of the 

 Forest Division, M. Papp, After a short halt we went on, a distance 

 of 14 miles, to see the reservoir named Kemeny Gabor. We stopped 

 on the way to look at a small wet slide used for the floating of 

 firewood ; it was composed, in cross-section, of three pieces, the 

 bottom one being slightly hollowed out. The spikes used for fasten- 

 ing the timbers together, so as to form the trough, were cut from the 

 dead lower branches of spruce trees, sawn off close to the trunk. 

 They answer the purpose perfectly, being almost as hard as iron. 

 Here there is a very fine forest of spruce, silver fir, and Scots 

 pine, the growth being rapid, and the damage resulting from storms 

 very slight. 



Some open ground, which has become denuded through excessive 

 grazing (a very rare occurrence in these hills), has been closed 

 with the most satisfactory result ; and the contrast between the 

 protected and unprotected portions of the valley was very striking. 

 The torrents which had begun to form have been treated on the 

 system adopted for such works in France. Further on we visited 

 a nursery of spruce, larch, Scots pine, and black Austrian pine 

 (P. Austriaca), and saw a number of dry fuel-slides roughly put 

 together, their characteristic feature being that they are of an 

 inexpensive nature and easy to construct, so that they can be 

 readily made wherever they are required for temporary use. The 

 dam of the reservoir at the head of the valley, which contains 

 lOj million cubic feet of water, was formerly built of wood and 

 stones, on a masonry foundation, at a cost of £3600 ; but such 

 works do not last more than about fifteen years, and recently, when 

 the dam had to be renewed, it was made entirely of masonry, on 

 the old foundation, at an expenditure of about £5600. It may 

 be said, then, that the cost of the new work was about double that 

 of the old one ; but in view of its far more lasting nature, there 

 can be no doubt that the more costly system is the cheaper in the 

 end. Passing beyond the reservoir, we examined the mouth of a 

 wet slide, winch is about 13 miles long, 2 feet 6 inches to 3 feet 

 wide at top, 20 inches wide at bottom, and 2 feet deep. It is 

 used for floating logs, and is formed of nine stems held together 

 by wooden stakes and pegs. Three of these form the bottom, and 

 there are three at each side, their inner surfaces, as well as those 

 in contact, being smoothed and fitted so as to render the trough 

 fairly water-tight ; but a fresh supply of water is let in at various 

 points along its course. When it is in use there are from 10 to 



