FOREST-ROADS. 309 



the network of railways, while large capitalists have invested 

 their money in the timber-trade ; the forest-owner may there- 

 fore leave most of the timber-transport to be done by traders and 

 contractors, and restrain his own action to that of delivering his 

 goods to the latter at convenient depots. 



Wood-transport, therefore, means the conveyance of the wood 

 to the more or less remote markets or depots by means of more 

 or less permanent routes. Transport is thus distinguished, by 

 the greater distance over which it acts and the more permanent 

 nature of the routes employed, from clearance of the felling-area, 

 although both these measures frequently coalesce, and cannot be 

 sharply distinguished from one another. 



Wood-transport is distinguished as transport by land and 

 transport by water, a short account of each of which will be 

 given ; the values of the different methods described will then be 

 compared, and an account will be given of permanent timber 

 depots. 



The present chapter deals in detail with land-transport only, 

 the different means of land-transport for forest produce being 

 forest-roads, thnber-slides, forest-tramways and wire-tramways. 



In the present book, full details as regards the construction of 

 the different means of communication will not be given, and they 

 will be described only in a general way. 



Section II. — Forest-roads. 

 1. Construction and Mainti'nancc. 



(a) General Account. — Forest-roads are undoubtedly the best 

 means of land-transport for forest material, and good forest 

 management must attend strictly to the necessity for intersecting 

 forests with good roads. The chief reason for the preference of 

 roads to other modes of timber-transport depends on their 

 superior durability. 



Forest-roads are now constructed not only in plains, hills and 

 low mountainous districts, but even in high mountain-ranges, 

 and are constantly being extended to the less accessible forests 

 at high altitudes. 



(b) Network of Roads for a Forest. — In constructing forest- 



