300 DIVISION OF AREA. 



7. The System of Roads and Rides. 



As already indicated, working sections, cutting series, and 

 compartments must be separated from each other by natural 

 or artificial lines. Apart from suitable natural boundary 

 lines, such as water partings, watercourses, precipices, fields, 

 meadows, &c., roads are the best boundaries of compartments- 

 and cutting series, because they facilitate the transport of the 

 produce. It is therefore desirable that, in the first instance, 

 a suitable network of roads should be decided on and marked 

 on the ground. Roads alone, however, rarely suffice. In 

 some cases roads already exist which are not suitable for 

 boundaries, in others even new roads must be so laid out that 

 they cannot be used as boundaries, because they must lead in 

 the direction of the places of consumption, and in hilly or 

 swampy ground they often assume a shape and direction, 

 which makes them unfit to serve as boundaries. 



The missing division lines are provided by a system of rides, 

 that is to say, by cleared strips of various breadths. A dis- 

 tinction is made between major and minor rides. 



a. Major Rides. 



In so far as roads or natural lines are not available, cutting 

 series, and in many cases working sections, should be bounded 

 by major rides. These should run in the direction of the 

 cuttings, that is, parallel to the prevailing wind direction, 

 whenever the configuration of the ground does not necessitate 

 deviations. 



In coppice and coppice with standards, the major rides need 

 not be more than 6 to 8 feet broad, unless they are used as 

 roads for the transport of the material. In high forest, they 

 must be much broader, because they are used as severance 

 cuttings, to induce the edge trees of adjoining woods to form 

 wind -firm trees, and to become accustomed to other climatic 

 influences. In the case of woods consisting of species which 

 are easily thrown by wind, they should not be less than 30 feet 



