12(; COMPAKISON (IF MUDKS OF THANSl'OUr. 



fairly good slides, but if the slides are very steep uiul combined 

 with chutes, the loss miiy attain lo, 20 % and more. lu 

 transi)ort on sledges and carts there is loss only when part of 

 the wood is dragged behind the sledge as a break, and 

 even then, the loss seldom exceeds I %. "Where sawmill 

 butts are slid on the ground, or thrown down-hill, as is some- 

 times unavoidable, greater friction and loss ensues, which is at 

 least 10 %. The loss in floating varies between 2 and 

 15 % of the volume launched. Since highly different 

 modes of transport are often combined, as in the Ramsau forest 

 range, it is difficult to assign the amount of loss to any one of 

 them in particular, but on the whole it may be fairly admitted 

 that in land- and water-transport there is 6 % of loss, of 

 which 4% on land-transport, and 2% by water. Accord- 

 mg to old observations made at the salt springs of 

 Berch'tesgaden, the loss in land-transport and floating to the 

 timber-depot there, was 5 % from the l^ischofswies, 8 % 

 from the Hintersee, Eamsau and Schwappach, 20 "^Iq from 

 the Konigsee, and 30 % from the Roth, a fall over a steep 

 incline 600 meters (1,950 feet) high. At present, in all these 

 districts, great improvement has been effected by constructing 

 i^ood sledge-roads in all directions. 



5. l)ctcri(>7'<(ti<)n in (JiKiJiti/ of the WmuL 



The detevioriition in the (juality of wood during transport 

 consists in external and internal damage. 



The former kind of damage may be recognized as soon as the 

 wood has reached its destination by a brush-like loosening of its 

 fibres at either end, in the case of both butts and firewood billets. 

 To this may be often added a certain number of radial cracks. 



The internal damage is of much greater importance, affecting 

 as it does the soundness of the wood ; land-transport cannot 

 have any influence in this respect, but floating is held to be a 

 cause of decay, which in the case of sawmill butts is often 

 considerable. Provided the floating were properly effected, it 

 could not alone be responsible for this, supposing that it were 

 always possible to take the necessary precautions. But 

 frequently this cannot be ensured, and consequently in the out- 



