FOREST-ROADS. 311 



main roads should be so arranged as to connect the market 

 with all parts of the forest, by means' of the subsidiary roads, 

 without its being necessary for the latter to make any long 

 ascent to reach them. 



In level and slightly undulating ground, every forest boundary- 

 line and every forest-ride may serve as a subsidiary road. 



In mountainous forests, however, the roads, descending in 

 long curves from the heights to the chief line of communica- 

 tion below, pass repeatedly through the compartments ; or 

 roads at different altitudes are connected by means of slides, 

 which are often necessary where the mountain-slopes are steep. 

 Tlie subsidiary roads may also be traced along the narrow side- 

 valleys of the higher mountain-ridges, into which the wood is 

 brought from both sides. In such cases the roads must wind 

 round every intervening spur or rock in order to communicate 

 with the felling-areas. 



In the case of an extensive tract of woodland belonging to one 

 owner there is little difficulty in laying out a network of roads, 

 but where the properties are subdivided among several owners, 

 or where the forest surrounds other property, there are often 

 serious obstacles to be dealt with. Old roads which one is loath 

 to abandon are often sources of difficulty. It may also be the 

 outlets from the forest where difficulties arise, when the fields 

 beyond it which should be traversed by well-constructed forest- 

 roads belong to poor or obstinate village communities. 



As regards the kinds of road to be constructed, a distinction 

 may be made between earth-roads, paved-roads or chaussees, and 

 roads chiefly made of wood. 



(c) Earth-roads. — In earth-roads no material is used but that 

 found in the immediate neighbourhood of the road. In the 

 plains the road is lined-out, roots of trees extracted and removed, 

 ditches dug to serve as road-boundaries and for drainage, and the 

 material from the ditches placed on the surface of the road to 

 give it the requisite curvature. 



In mountainous forests a horizontal basis must first be given 

 to the road by excavating the slope above its axis and throwing 

 the material below it. Wherever the slopes are very steep, 

 retaining-walls of either stone or wood must be constructed 

 below the road ; in such cases the stones necessary for this 



