J58 FELLING AND CONVERSION OF TIMBER. 



during the last thirty years, and forestry has not remained 

 unaffected. The woodman, who formerly remained attached 

 to his hamlet, has freed himself from his fetters : he leaves 

 field and forest, and proceeds to the centres of industry and 

 manufacture where he hopes to get a better price for his 

 labour, to lead a pleasanter life than in his lonely forest village, 

 and to acquire property more rapidly. A few years ago, 

 owing to this migration of the villagers, the scarcity of labour 

 in certain forest districts had become calamitous. The crisis, 

 however, did not last long, and at present, many woodmen have 

 returned to their former pursuits. 



The duration of work in the forest depends on the local 

 extent of the forest area and the degree of intensity of forest 

 management. Whenever in an extensive forest district there 

 is always full employment throughout the year, the inhabi- 

 tants are closely attached to the forest. In such districts 

 there is hardly any other industry but forestry ; and, even if 

 other employment could be found for the men, outside or 

 within the district, yet, provided they can earn the usual wages 

 prevailing in the locality, forest work is preferred to any other 

 industry by the greater part of the population, who have, as 

 it were, grown-up in mind and spirit with the forest. Where, 

 on the contrary, in districts chiefly industrial or agricultural 

 the work in the few existing forests can be done in a few 

 weeks' time, forest work is only an auxiliary to the usual 

 modes of occupation, the labourers have for it little taste or 

 skill and can be induced to work only in a perfunctory manner. 



The Remuneration and other Conditions which the wood- 

 men receive from the forest-owner should under all circum- 

 stances be a fair equivalent for the amount of labour required, 

 and suffice for the support of a labourer and his family. It is, 

 therefore, clear that the more a forest-owner can identify his 

 own interests with those of his woodmen, the more remuner- 

 ative will be the management of his forest. 



2. Demands on the Woodcutter. 



People are apt to think that the demands made on a wood- 

 cutter may be satisfied by any labourer who can use the axe and 

 saw. This is indeed true in certain cases, but usually a certain 



