838 LAND-TRANSPORT. 



bestowed on it ; it wastes no wood, is very expeditious, for 

 with a length of 2,000 meters (1^ miles), 100 to 300 logs 

 may be brought down in a day, and the roadway may also be 

 used for sledges. Sliding on roads is therefore a highly practical 

 method where cart-traffic is impossible. 



Road-slides are now used in Austria, in Galicia, the Carpa- 

 thian mountains, and the Salzkammergut. In Hohenashau, 

 in the Bavarian Alps, the ordinary sledge-roads are used in 

 winters without much snowfall for sliding 8-meter logs. They 

 are also used in Franconia, but there only on snow or ice, the 

 transport being chiefly confined to butts for saw-mills. 



4. Mode of Trcnisport on Timhcr-slidcs. 



The mode of transport of wood on slides is very simple, and 

 depends on the construction and purpose of the slides. Besides 

 launching the logs the requisite labour-force is employed on the 

 maintenance of the slides. 



(a) Wooden Slides. — The chief object to be secured in the 

 maintenance of wooden slides is to get as smooth a surface as 

 possible. This may be secured by watering the slide during a 

 frost, so as to get a smooth, icy path ; by using the snow which 

 lies on the slide, removing most of it and pressing-down the 

 remainder ; in wet slides, by using all available water ; or 

 generally, by keeping the slide free from dirt, dead leaves, Sec, 

 and using it simply as a dry slide. 



Slides are chiefly used during winter or early spring, partly on 

 account of the ice and snow, and partly because the wood must 

 be then brought down to be ready for floating when the watei- 

 rises in the streams in the spring : dry slides, however, may be 

 used throughout the summer. 



Whenever, owing to slight gradients of 5 to 6 %, ice-slides 

 must be used, a good deal of labour is involved in watering, 

 one man being required to water and look after every 40 or 50 

 sections of the slide. Sliding is then often done at night, when 

 the work has been prolonged into spring, and frost only occurs on 

 clear nights. For the most part slides are used either covered 

 with snow, or dry. The work then consists in removing super- 

 fluous snow which may have fallen during the night, and in 

 thoroughly freeing dry slides from pieces of l»ark, wooden 

 splinters, &c. 



