NOTES ON A VISIT TO SWITZERLAND AND GERMANY. 315 
method of felling is very much the same as that practised in this 
country, by axe and saw. Scattered about the felling areas are 
temporary depots to which all the material is brought by contract, 
the cost being about 2 marks per cubic metre (2d. per cubic foot) 
for the large timber. Various means are adopted for conveying 
the timber, such as carrying, sliding, dragging, sledging, and 
letting it down steep precipices by ropes, and the transport of wood 
from the depots is effected by means of waggons drawn by oxen 
and horses. All the first and second class logs of heavy timber 
are delivered to the shareholders of the forest in numbers propor- 
tionate to their shares, and they themselves are at the expense 
of removing the logs from the depots. The other produce, such 
as firewood, bark, etc., is sold by auction or missive in the 
forest, and the net revenue from these sources is divided amongst 
the shareholders. The saw-mills and paper-mills along the 
valley are driven chiefly by water-power, although some of them 
have engines to augment their power. All the mills are the 
property of private owners, and the paper-making industry is 
increasing annually. 
Herr Stephani, the officer in charge of the forest, drove us, two 
days in succession, to two districts of the forest, a new one each 
day, and he was most attentive and kind in giving us all the 
information we desired. In the course of these drives, and in 
the long walks we took from point to point in the course of the 
day, we saw the forest nurseries, which are very small, and are 
only meant to supply a few plants to make up places where 
regeneration has failed from one cause or another. ‘The effects 
of the gales were well illustrated at a place where a new road 
had been cut into the forest, and where the opening had admitted 
the wind, which had cleared a large area of valuable timber 
before its time) No matter how skilfully severance cuttings are 
made, they do not prevent loss by gales, and hence the adoption 
of the method of group-sélection and regeneration described 
above. 
Well-grown Scots pine is worth 32s. per cubic metre (11d. 
per cubic foot), and spruce and silver fir are worth about half 
that price in the wood. 
As showing the size of the timber, I may mention that we 
saw a silver fir which had been felled and peeled, and which 
contained 560 cubic feet of wood. This was an exceptionally 
large tree, but most of them contain from 400 to 500 cubic feet 
