FORESTRY IN HUNGARY. 61 



billets lias been deposited, it is closed, and the next one is 

 opened, and so on, until the sti'eam bed, opposite the outlets, is 

 sufficiently filled with billets, — that is to say, when some 350,000 

 to 500,000 cubic feet have been accumulated. 



The dam, which has been built at a distance of about 5^ miles 

 from the head of the Berzava, whei'e the forest is situated, is 

 made of wood and stones, faced with clay ; it is 37 feet high, and 

 the reservoir, when full, contains 4^ million cubic feet of water. 

 When the sluice gates are opened, the reservoir empties itself in 

 five hours ; and the billets are carried down the Berzava, which 

 has a fall of 1 in 100 for the first mile, and of from 3 to 5 in 100 

 for the rest of the way. The first weir, which is near Resicza, at 

 a distance of 23 miles from the dam, is reached in about six 

 hours. The wood caught at it is led by a canal 600 yards long, 

 running beside the river to the first charcoal yard, where 26 

 kilns are at work. A part of the wood which passes the first 

 weir is caught by a second, 500 yards further down ; whence it 

 is taken by a canal to a second charcoal yard provided with 34 

 kilns. The remainder is arrested at a third yard containing 40 

 kilns, by two strong weirs, beyond which none of it can pass. 

 The narrow-gauge railway traverses the yards, and by it the 

 charcoal is conveyed to the furnaces. The three yards hold 4| 

 million cubic feet of wood, and are capable of turning out a 

 million and a quarter bushels of charcoal in a year. 



The time occupied, from the commencement of the fellings to 

 the delivery of the last batch of wood at Resicza, is about one 

 year and ten months ; and the total cost, including that of felling 

 and converting, is f of a penny per cubic foot (stacked). It is 

 said that if the wood had to be conveyed by the carts to Resicza, 

 the cost would be at least doubled. 



In the month of October, two years after the fellings were com- 

 menced, charcoal-making is begun in the forest. All the wood 

 unsuitable for floating is then jjut into kilns, which are circular 

 in form, and of various dimensions, according to their situation, 

 the largest containing 5000 cubic feet (stacked) of wood. The 

 split billets are laid at the bottom, and round pieces cut from 

 branches are placed above them. 



It is said that 100 cubic feet of stacked wood, equivalent to 72 

 cubic feet of solid wood, yield 38| bushels of charcoal at Resicza, 

 and 35| bushels in the forest, where the arrangements for making 

 it are not so perfect. The wood is almost exclusively beech, the 



