It i> a i, inai k;iMc fact that in this part of the Schwarzwald water carriage 

 has MI-VIM- bri'ii us. .I for timber to any large extent. The elaborate and most skil- 

 ful anuniivMit'Mts which were formerly used, and are still in use to some extent, 

 to 1'arilitat.r tin- floating of timber on the Enz, Nagold, Murg, Wolfach and Kinzig- 

 rivcrs in tin- northern SohwarzwalH, were unknown here. At first sight this 

 seems dillicult to understand. But the rivers of the southern Schwarzwaid, 

 particularly those here in question, the Alb and Wehra, have a much greater 

 fall, and their bed in places is more narrow, and more obstructed by rocks and 

 stones than that of the northern streams, in which floating has been chiefly 

 practised. 



The following is a sketch of existing arrangements for the utilization of the 

 produce of these forests. For felling the trees, fashioning the timber, and bring- 

 ing the logs to the roadside where they are sold, contractors (accordanten) here, 

 as in the other State forests of Baden, are employed by the district forest officers. 

 In each range four or five of these contractors generally find employment 

 throughout the year. They are men of long experience in the business, picked, 

 and to a great extent trained, by the Oberforster himself. Each works, accord- 

 ing to circumstances, with from 8 to 15 timber cutters, the contractor being the 

 foreman and working himself with the men, with whom he shares the profits 

 aiising from their operations. 



As previously explained, by far the most important produce of these forests 

 consists in the timber of spruce and silver fir. The following remarks will be 

 mainly limited to them. The mode of utilizing beech wood offers no peculiar 

 feature. 



The thinnings in young forests are generally made between June and 

 August. The poles to be taken out are marked by the forest guard, under the 

 district forest officer's general direction. The forest guard is authorized to 

 permit more experienced timber cutters to mark, under his supervision the poles 

 to be thinned out. It has not having been possible to carry out thinnings 

 in young forests as extensively as would be desirable, for the poles cut are 

 in many cases, unsaleable. The spruce and silver fir forests of those por- 

 tions of the Black Forest which adjoin the Rhine Valley and of the Vosges on 

 the other side of that river, supply poles for the hop gardens of Alsace and 

 Baden at lower rates. The forests of St. Blasien therefore can, in exceptional 

 cases only, enter into competition with them. The present depressed state of 

 the hop market makes it unlikely that hop-poles will be largely exported fr m 

 these forests. 



Mature timber is generally cut between April and the middle of June, and 

 during the remaining months of summer and autumn the logs are prepared and 

 brought to the roadside. As already mentioned, winter felling was customary, to- 

 a certain extent at least, in old times, but in those days charcoal was the main 

 article produced, and the timber was at once cut up for the charcoal kilns into' 

 billets which were easily moved on sledges over the snow. At present, when 

 large timber is the chief article produced, winter transport is not feasible, and 

 during the last 40 years summer felling has become the general rule in these 

 districts. 



The first operation is to bark the trees. Of the spruce bark a considerable 

 portion is sold for tanning, that of the silver fir is used as fuel. Timber 

 of prime quality, whether spruce or silver fir is left in logs as long as possible 

 and for such timber the contractor is paid for at the rate of 2 mark per cub. 

 metre. It is classified under five classes, the first and second comprising those 

 logs which at 18 m. (59 ft.) from the butt end have a diameter of 30 c.m. (12 in.) 



