COST OF TRANSPORT. 421 



Although much thought has been expended on the advis- 

 ability of abandoning chutes in mountainous countries, for they 

 need constant repair and are known to be prejudicial to forests, 

 as yet they cannot be dispensed with in high mountain districts. 

 At the same time, they may be replaced gradually by sledge- 

 roads and improved floating- channels. Log-slides along 

 made roadways, however, will prove always a useful method 

 in mountainous districts. In the Alps and other neighbouring 

 countries floating has been always a prevalent mode of trans- 

 port, and will remain so for many districts. Floating is followed 

 much less in the plains and hills of North Germany, and 

 even then chiefly for firewood, whilst rafting is pursued exten- 

 sively on large rivers and canals. It is much easier to lay- 

 out and use forest-roads and tramways in the plains than 

 among mountains, but recent experience in the Vosges and 

 elsewhere shows that the fact of a district being mountainous 

 need not exclude these modes of transport. 



2. Wood-assortments. 



Although every felling-area yields a number of different 

 wood-assortments, yet only a few form the great majority of 

 its produce : frequently one single assortment determines the 

 revenue of a forest, and therefore may have a decisive influence 

 on the choice of the mode of transport. Butts and firewood 

 may be transported in various ways, but logs, poles and 

 coppice-wood cannot be floated, though suitable for all kinds 

 of land-transport, whilst logs form the chief object of rafting. 



In mountainous districts there are many forests that produce 

 splendid long pieces of timber, but at present yield sawmill 

 butts only, the stems being cut into lengths of 3 to 4 metres 

 (10 to 13 feet) for floating, because, rightly or wrongly, the 

 forest-owners consider this mode of transport alone justifiable. 

 [In the Jura long logs are transported on splendid cart-roads, 

 while in the Vosges sawmill butts are the chief produce and 

 are brought down on sledges. Tr.] 



3. Cost of Transport. 



The cheapest is also the best transport, if it is sufficiently 

 expeditious and prejudices neither the forest, nor the wood 



