400 WOOD TRANSPORT BY WATER. 



buoyant, owing to the coldness of the snow-water. Thus 

 all reservoirs and tanks can be filled readily, and the largest 

 possible volume of wood brought down in the shortest possible 

 time. 



The weaker the floating-channels, the greater care must be 

 taken to utilise, for floating, the critical period in the spring, 

 after the snow has disappeared. Although in mountainous 

 districts, with heavy rainfall, the period of melting snow brings 

 down sufficient water into the streams for floating purposes, 

 floating is protracted frequently into the summer months, it 

 then requires all the help of an artificial supply of water. In 

 such cases, the forester will direct his attention to the summer 

 rains for supplying his reservoirs. It is evident that the 

 whole prosperity of the saw-mill industry depends on a choice 

 of the right moment for floating the wood. 



Floating on large streams permanently well supplied with 

 water, and on smaller streams supplied from lakes and 

 reservoirs, may continue throughout the year. In such cases 

 it is preferable to float in the autumn, when floods are less to 

 be feared than during the spring. [This is the case in India 

 with rivers such as the Jumna, where the principal boom is 

 always removed from May till November, when the river is 

 swollen with snow-water and water from the summer mon- 

 soon. Tr.] In high mountain-regions floods occur late in 

 the spring and in the early part of summer, and it is therefore 

 in several districts safer to choose midsummer (in the Italian 

 Alps, late autumn) for floating, especially where protective 

 works against floods are wanting. 



Small reservoirs may be filled three or four times in "a day, 

 but large ones may require several days to fill. 



(b) Nature of the Wood to be Floated. Saw-mill butts 

 and the better kinds of firewood (split billets, and large round 

 pieces) are floated. [In India also rail way- sleepers and other 

 scantling. Tr.] The butts are first barked and trimmed free 

 from knots and stumps of branches, and frequently rounded 

 at both ends to guard against splitting. Firewood and 

 charcoal-wood is floated either in round butts (twice the 

 length of the ordinary billets) which are sawn and split into 

 billets after landing at the booms, or in split billets. 



