FLOATING. 401 



4. 'Method employed in Float.in<j Wood. 



(a) Season for Floating. — The more quickly a sweep of wood 

 is floated and reaches its destination, the better is the business 

 of floating- it conducted. For this purpose, a steady and ample 

 supply of water is necessary. The melting of the mountain 

 snow in spring brings most water into European streams, and 

 spring is therefore the chief season in Europe for floating timber. 

 At this season all the brooks and springs which flow into the 

 floating-channel are swiftest and most buoyant, owing to the 

 coldness of the snow-water. All reservoirs and tanks can thus 

 be readily filled, and the largest possible volume of wood brought 

 down in the shortest possible time. 



The weaker the floating-channels, the greater care must be 

 taken to utilize, for floating, the critical period in the spring, 

 after the snow has disappeared. Although in mountainous dis- 

 tricts with heavy rainfall, the period of melting snow brings down 

 sufficient water into the streams for floating purposes, floating is 

 frequently protracted into the summer months, and then requires 

 all the help of an artificial supply of water. In such cases, 

 the forester will direct his attention to the summer rains for 

 supplying his reservoirs. It is evident that the whole prosperity 

 of the saw-mill industry depends on a choice of the right moment 

 for floating the wood. 



Floating on large streams permanently well supplied with 

 water, and on smaller streams supplied from lakes and reservoirs, 

 may continue throughout the year. In such cases it is prefer- 

 able to float in the autumn, when floods are less to be feared 

 than during the spring. [This is the case in India with rivers 

 such as the Jumna, where the principal boom is always re- 

 moved from May till November, when the river is swollen with 

 snow-water and water from the summer monsoon. — Tr.] In 

 high mountain-regions floods occur late in the spring and in the 

 early part of summer, and it is therefore in several districts safer 

 to choose midsummer (in the Italian Alps, late autumn) for 

 floating, especially where protective works against floods are 

 wanting. 



Small reservoirs may be filled three or four times in a day, but 

 large ones may require several days to fill. 



VOL. V. D D 



