2-30 FKLLING AND CONVERSION. 



thrown in any desired direction, or is it less liable to splinter in 

 lallin-. 



Where the saw alone is used, several wedges may indeed be 

 introduced, but the tree rests on one point of the circumference 

 of the cut, and during,' the fall it frequently turns on its stump 

 in a way which cannot be prevented by the use of wedges. If, 

 however, a small notch is cut on the side of the fall, and the 

 saw-cut opposite to this is opened-out by wedges, the stem 

 when ready to fall rests, as shown in fig. 120, not on a point, 

 but on a straight line perpendicular to the direction of the fall, 

 and any turning of the stem on its stump is an extremely rare 

 event. A very simple and safe method has been long in practice 

 in the Schwarzwald, as shown in fig. 121 ; the pole ((h, fitting 

 into a notch in the stem at a, is lifted by two men by the 

 horizontal lever nth, and is thus forced into the required direc- 

 tion. This is a simple form of Wohmann's apparatus. 



The greatest waste of wood is involved when the axe alone is 

 used for felling, and this not only because a considerable portion 

 of the base of the tree is hewn into chips, which in mature trees 

 may be 4 to 7 per cent., and in poles, 2 to 2i per cent, of the 

 volume of the bole ; but also because the end of the log remains 

 pointed, and it cannot be used in its full length. 



"Where the saw alone is used, there is least waste (about I per 

 cent.), but even where both saw and axe are used the waste is 

 small (1 to 1^ per cent.). There arc, however, localities where 

 working with the saw involves a greater loss than when the axe 

 alone is used, and that is in steep rocky places where one is 

 obliged to leave a high stump in order to work the saw at all. 



The loss of bark in conversion is 4 per cent, of the prepared 

 bole for the beech, and other smooth-barked trees, 7 per cent, 

 for oaks and coarse-barked broad-leaved species, 8 — 11 per cent, 

 for the Scotch pine, spruce, and silver-fir, 15 — 18 per cent, for 

 the larch and black pine. 



As regards facility in working, this depends on the practice 

 and skill of the woodcutters. We should only compare the 

 labour of men equally skilled with saw and axe, and in such 

 cases there is very little advantage in using the axe alone. 



Felling trees by means of axe and saw combined is, therefore, 

 under ordinary circumstances the best Uiethod, and should be 



