LOSS OF VOLUME. 423 



pine timber on the 2J kilometers (12 furlongs) of forest 

 tramway is 0'62 mark (7d.), whilst its cost by cartage is 

 1*50 to 2 marks (Is. Qd. to 2s.). On the tramway in the forest 

 range of Barr in the Vosges mountains, the cost of transport 

 for a cubic meter of timber or firewood in the year 1889 was 

 75 pfennigs (9d.) whilst cartage for the same distance cost 

 1*84 marks (Is. WcL). The forest tramway at Eothau in the 

 Yosges may be confidently expected to yield 6 per cent, on its 

 initial cost, for the cost of transport per cubic meter is now 

 1*60 marks (Is. Id.) compared with 4'50 to 5 marks (4s. 6d. to 

 5s.) by cartage. The cost of construction of the tramway in 

 Ebersberg forest was very high, in round figures, 20,000 marks 

 per kilometer (1,600 a mile) for the main line, and 4,000 

 marks per kilometer (320 a mile) for the branches (including 

 lading apparatus, rolling-stock, etc.). It has, nevertheless, 

 been possible to deliver a cubic meter of wood for 31 pfennigs 

 (3j-</.) at the nearest railway-station, for which the cost of cartage 

 would be about Wd. The cost of constructing 105 kilometers 

 of forest-tramways in certain Prussian provinces averaged 

 4'32 marks per running meter (4s. a yard). The tramways in 

 the Saxon forest-ranges of Kossau, however, cost 8*95 marks 

 per meter (8s. 3<7. a yard). 



Water-transport by rafting and in barges on streams and 

 canals has been always one of the cheapest modes of transport, 

 and so, in many cases, has floating. As regards floating, how- 

 ever, the crucial points are : not too much cost in maintenance 

 of works and conducting the business, and especially a con- 

 siderable length of floating-channel. A regulated floating- 

 channel always involves expensive construction for reservoirs, 

 dams, booms, maintenance of the banks of the stream, etc., 

 and these consequently increase the cost of floating, the more, 

 the shorter is the floating-channel. For the annual convey- 

 ance to a distance of large volumes of butts and firewood, 

 floating has been always one of the cheapest of methods 

 practised; it often repays the cost of constructing works in 



solid masonry. 



4. Loss of Volume. 



The quantity of material loss of wood during transport 

 depends on the configuration of the ground, the mode of 



