40 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



who superintend planting and felling, one foreman of the saw- 

 mills, and about one hundred workmen. The wages of the 

 workmen range from 3s. 6d. to over 4s. per day. The men are 

 well-housed, insured against sickness and accident, have the 

 advantages of post, telephone, and telegraph offices close at 

 hand, as well as railway facilities, while even a local scheme of 

 old age pensions is now under consideration. 



The labour statistics given by Herr Meister are extremely 

 interesting. Forest labour provides work for 66 men, while 

 the manufacture of the produce requires the services of 38 

 men. As these men work upon 1045 hectares, the labour 

 force is equivalent to 10 men for each 100 hectares (250 acres), 

 or I man for 25 acres. Taking forestry work alone, 40 acres 

 absorb the labour of one man for the whole year, reckoning 

 upon 300 working days. " Day-work " is more common than 

 "piece-work" in the exploitation of the forest, largely because 

 the diversity of the requirements in utilisation makes it desirable 

 to have a perfectly free hand in directing the operations. Both 

 classes of labour cost 20 per cent, more nowadays than they 

 did in 1880. 



Timber Utilisation. 



The development in what may be called the manufacturing 

 department at Sihlwald has been a remarkable one. Up to 

 forty years ago, no attempt was made to utilise the felled 

 timber beyond rough conversion into logs and billets for trans- 

 ference into Ziirich by means of the river Sihl {Floesserei). 

 More recent industrial progress, with its consequent increased 

 demand for timber, together with improvements in machinery, 

 however, eventually suggested the establishment of large saw- 

 mills and a turnery factory. The success of these led to the 

 introduction of plant for the impregnation of timber, while 

 machines were brought into use for the manufacture of 

 implement handles, " wood-wool " {Holz7volle), split firewood, 

 and for mortising, planing, and polishing. The latest addition 

 is a timber-drying chamber, heated artificially by means of 

 refuse material, principally bark-chips and sawdust. The 

 manufacture of firewood is so important that 150,000 large 

 bundles are sold annually. The treatment of timber with copper 

 sulphate under hydrostatic pressure (Boucherie system), seems 

 to have certain advantages which are appreciated at Sihlwald, 



