FOREST UTILISATION 103 



The work of felling may be conveniently done by contract 

 (piecework) according to fixed standards. For specially 

 difficult operations it is advisable to pay day's wages. If 

 the timber, when felled, must be dragged to depots or into 

 lots, an additional sum to that for cutting alone should be 

 allowed. When the workers' engagement may be broken 

 at a day's notice, and when payment is reckoned by the piece, 

 it ought to be borne in mind that the operation is subject to 

 interruption through unfavourable weather, and a somewhat 

 higher rate than that current locally for agricultural labour 

 may require to be paid. 



The usual and most suitable season for the main fellings is 

 winter ; where the bark is desired from Oak, cuttings are 

 carried out after the period of active vegetation has set in 

 that is to say, in spring. Trees from very marshy land should 

 be felled and extracted during severe frost ; often it is at such 

 times only that Alder clumps can be approached. Thinnings 

 or other intermediate cuttings allow of the widest choice as 

 regards season of felling ; indeed, they may be undertaken 

 when there is nothing else to afford the woodcutters em- 

 ployment. 



In felling trees the axe is generally used conjointly with 

 the saw ; first a deep notch is hewn out with the axe upon 

 the side to which it is desired that the tree should fall, then 

 from the side opposite to this the saw is entered and the 

 stem cut through. Wedges, either of wood or iron, follow 

 the saw to ease it and to guide the felling direction more pre- 

 cisely. For smaller stems the axe alone is used, and slender 

 young growth may be cut over with the bill-hook. 



Trees may be felled " by the root " that is to say, the 

 larger roots, laid bare by digging, are cut through, and at the 

 same time, with ropes, cables, or the help of the "forest 

 devil," the stem is drawn over and falls to the ground ; 

 weaker stems may be pressed over with a pole after severing 

 the roots. The felling of trees in this manner has much to 

 recommend it ; it permits of the fullest use being made 

 of the whole tree, and it is the surest way of giving the 



