MANUAL LABOUR. 185 



in both cases ; this is especially true for long pieces of valuable 

 timber, provided the diameter at the small end is up to standard ; 

 a higher payment would be made for the entire piece than if it 

 had been cut in two, although in the latter case more labour 

 would have been expended. 



There are forest districts where, in the interest of the forest 

 owner, the wages of woodcutters are allowed to rise and fall 

 with the sale-prices of the outturn ; as in parts of the Schwarz- 

 wald, and especially in the forests of the Prince of Fiirstenberg. 

 The best plan is, therefore, to pay relatively the highest rates for 

 those pieces, the sale of which is most profitable to the owner, 

 and to pay the wages corresponding to the labour involved only 

 for less saleable pieces, the number of which the owner wishes 

 to keep as low as possible. Thus, payment for wood from the 

 stump and roots of the trees is kept very low, to prevent material 

 lit for straight, split, or round cordwood being thus used, and 

 especially to keep down as much as possible the amount of root- 

 and stump-wood. 



(d) Area where the Same Wages Prevail. — Once the scale for 

 labour-payments has been decided, it may be applicable to a 

 forest district, range, or working circle, but sometimes only to a 

 particular felling-area. Thus, where the locality is unfavourable, 

 as, for instance, on steep, lofty slopes ; in fellings where special 

 care has to be taken of the material, or of the regeneration or 

 tending of the forest ; in very remote felling-areas, where the 

 woodmen have far to go to reach their work ; where the trees to 

 be felled are far apart, so that there are difficulties in collecting 

 and sorting the outturn ; and in several other cases, — greater de- 

 mands are made on the labourers than where opjiosite conditions 

 prevail. 



The preparation of forest accounts is much simplified when 

 the same rates of payment are made in all the felling-areas of 

 the same forest range. In level, uniformly-stocked forests, and 

 especially where only one species of tree is grown, such simplicity 

 is often admissible ; but in the case of irregular woods and un- 

 like conditions, the forest owner will find it to his profit to have 

 different rates of payment for different localities. 



Thus, we have various rates of payment for piece-work, which 

 rise and fall with the local daily wage. In allottinof these rate 



