424 COMPAKISOX OF MODES OF TIIANSPOIIT. 



the 2^, kilometers (1'2J, furlongs) of forest trinnwiiv is 0"()2 

 mark {1\(L), whilst its cost by cartage is l"o() to 2 marks 

 (Is. Gd. to 2s.)- On the tramway in the forest range of Barr 

 in the Vosges mountains, the cost of transport for a cubic 

 meter of timber or firewood in the year 1889 was 75 pfennigs 

 (9^/.), whilst cartage for the same distance cost 1'84 marks 

 (Is. 10(/.). The forest tramway at Rothau in the Vosges may 

 be confidently expected to yield 6 % on its initial cost, for 

 the cost of transport per cubic meter is now 1-60 marks (Is. 7(1.) 

 compared with 4'oO to 5 marks (4n. (></. to 5s.) by cartage. 

 The cost of construction of the tramway in Ebersberg forest 

 was v^ry high, in round figures, 20,000 marks per kilometer 

 (£1,600 a mile) for the main line, and 4,000 marks per kilometer 

 (i'320 a mile) for the branches (including lading apparatus, 

 rolling-stock, &c.). It has, nevertheless, been possible to 

 deliver a cubic meter of Avood for 31 pfennigs {dhd.) at the 

 nearest railway-station, for which the cost of cartage would be 

 about lOd. The cost of constructing 105 kilometers of forest 

 tramways in certain Prussian provinces averaged 4*82 marks per 

 running meter (4s. a yard). The tramways in the Saxon forest 

 ranges of Kossau, however, cost 8*95 marks per meter (Ks. 'Sd. 

 a yard). 



Water-transport by rafting and in barges, on streams and 

 canals has always been one of the cheapest modes of transport, 

 and so, in many cases, has floating. As regards floating, how- 

 ever, the crucial points are : not too much cost in maintenance 

 of works and conducting the business, and especially a con- 

 siderable length of floating-channel. A regulated llouliiig 

 channel ulwiiys involves expensive construction for reser- 

 voirs, dams, booms, maintenance of the banks of the stream, 

 &c., and these consequently increase the cost of floating the 

 more, the shorter is the floating-channel. For the annual con- 

 veyance to a distance of large volumes of butts and flrewood, 

 floating has always been one of the cheapest of methods prac- 

 tised, and often repays the cost of constructing works in solid 

 masonry. 



4. Loss of Vidniuc. 



The quantity of material loss of wood during transport 



