274 FELLING AND CONVERSION OF TIMBER. 



slopes which are otherwise suitable, a sledge-track can often 

 be made only with excessive trouble. This is often the case 

 on rocky ground, or where the soil is deep. On slopes, how- 

 ever, which- are covered with dead needles, or moss and 

 herbage, sledges may run freely, especially over silver-fir 

 and Scotch-pine branches, spruce being not so suitable. If 

 then any hollows in the track are filled with billets covered 

 with branches and litter, or a kind of tramway made with 

 round billets over the more difficult ground, sledging may be 

 effected with great saving of labour, and is consistent with the 

 protection of the young growth. It is, however, practicable 

 for short distances only (Fig. 174). 



(c) The operation of sledging. In all sledging operations, 

 the workman stands in front between the horns of the sledge, 

 which he holds in both hands, so as to draw the sledge or stop 

 its too rapid progress. 



Wherever the ground is even, or only slightly inclined, the 

 sledge must be dragged, and the greater the angle of inclina- 

 tion, the less this is necessary ; if then the track be smooth, 

 with a gradient of 1 in 20 (5 per cent.), usually the work- 

 man has only to guide the sledge. As the gradient increases, 

 he has to hold the sledge back ; with gradients from 1 in 16 

 to 1 in 12 (6 to 8 per cent.), a man can do this without much 

 difficulty, but with steeper gradients brakes must be used. 

 Thus on steep inclines, the workmen have iron spikes attached 

 to their boots to give them a good hold on the ground. [In 

 the Himalayas, softwood sleepers are used down steep inclines 

 for the sledges to run on, and hardwood for low gradients the 

 pieces being closer together in the latter case, this with the 

 use of sand is found better than any brakes. Tr.] 



Brakes may consist of bundles of faggots in which stones 

 are placed which are dragged after the sledge by an iron chain. 

 Several such faggots are often linked together, attached by 

 short chains close behind the sledge. Bound or split billets 

 of wood may serve the purpose, instead of faggots. Hoops 

 made of twisted withes may be hung over the horns of the 

 sledge, and let down under the sledge-runners on steep slopes, 

 thus causing a great increase of friction. The iron hook 

 and lever (Fig. 175) is used also in many Alpine sledges 





