27G FELLIXO AND CONVERSION. 



felled trees to load and convey the heavy pieces of timher 

 directly to their destination. If, however, the felling-area is on 

 a slope, skilful woodcutters will find no difficulty in removing 

 the heaviest logs down to the valley below ; in such places it is 

 indeed necessary for them to do so, for carts cannot then leave 

 the roads, and the purchaser of the timber must not be allov\-ed to 

 slide the logs downhill to his carts. On sloping ground, there- 

 fore, all large timber is removed by the woodcutters from the 

 felling-area. "Where there is only a gentle slope, the removal 

 of the timber from the felling-area will depend on the amount of 

 protection necessary for the forest crop. In many such cases, it 

 is sufficient to remove the timber to the nearest cart-track 

 passing through the felling-area. 



The mode of re-stocking the area to be adopted will also 

 influence the matter. If the area of a clear-felling is to be im- 

 mediately re- stocked, all the wood on it must be removed. In 

 the case of natural regeneration, there are usually blanks in the 

 felling-area on which the heaviest timber may be placed. 



Wherever the purchaser undertakes to fashion the wood in 

 the forest, as in the making of sabots, spokes, staves and other 

 cloven ware, the worksheds should, if possible, be kept outside 

 the felling-area ; the granting of the permit to prepare the wood 

 should also depend on the acceptance by the purchaser of certain 

 suitable sites for his work, provided such sites are available. 



5. Modes of Clearance. 



The felling-area may be cleared in different ways, which are 

 more or less consonant with forest protection ; such as carrying^ 

 sliding, dragging, sledging, letting-down by ropes, using timber- 

 chutes and rolling downhill. 



(a) Careful Methods of Clearing a Felling-area, 

 i. Carri/iiKj. 



Carrying is chiefly done by men, seldom by beasts, and is 

 confined to the smaller classes of material, such as firewood, 

 poles, branchwood and cloven-ware. 



As carrying by men is very lal)orious and expensive, it is done 



