312 SALE AND TRANSPORT OF PRODUCE 



thus the draught is much lessened. Occasionally the trees 

 can be loaded up, where they are felled, on to the timber 

 waggons, but this will not be very often. 



When loading a timber waggon, a couple of " skids " or 

 " leaders " are placed at an angle from the ground to the top 

 of the waggon, and the logs are then pulled or rolled up by 

 means of one or more horses pulling (on the other side of the 

 waggon), on to chains which pass over the waggon and round 

 each end of the log. 



As regards the Cost of Haulage by Horses. If the timber 

 is near a good hard road, and if the gradients are not very 

 steep, a fair average is to allow id. to ijd. per foot quarter 

 girth measurement for the first mile, and then Jd. a foot up to 5 

 miles, and beyond this distance Jd. per foot per mile (i.e., 3 

 miles for id.). 



If, however, the trees lie in an inaccessible place, or the 

 woodland rides be very wet and gradients bad, it may easily 

 cost 2d. to 3d. a foot to haul for the first mile on to, perhaps, 

 a good road. For it may require double the number of horses 

 or more to do this first length of hauling, and sometimes the 

 trees have to be " tushed " a long way before they can be 

 loaded up. Then again, even if there be a good hard metalled 

 road, the cost will be greatly increased if the gradients be 

 bad, for extra horses must be used. But if there be only a 

 bad gradient here and there, two waggon loads may proceed 

 together, and when the bad gradient is reached, they must 

 stop, and put all horses on to one waggon ; haul this up ; and 

 then come back for the other waggon. This, of course, all 

 means delay and extra expense. An extra id. a foot spent in 

 hauling means something like 10 to 20 per acre; and 

 hence the advantage of having good roads and rides on 

 woodland areas cannot be too strongly insisted upon ; for 

 timber merchants are not slow to accurately gauge the cost 

 of extracting timber. 



The Cost of Steam Traction on roads is considerably 

 less ; though, in many cases, the timber will have to be 

 " tushed " out for a much greater distance, on account of the 

 engine and trucks not being allowed in the woods, or not 



