

TIMBER-SLEDGING. 293 



and Langholm woods, Dumfriesshire, a light tramway worked 

 by men is found a good and economical way of extracting 

 timber from narrow, winding galleys down which there are 

 no roads. 



Railway transport in Britain is regulated by the general 

 railway classification of goods, which prescribes the method 

 of measurement and classifies the rates payable for different 

 kinds of timber. 



Sledging of poles and logs might in Britain be done far more 

 extensively than is yet the case. On the Continent sledges are 

 drawn by woodmen, horses, mules, or oxen. The sledging- 

 track is corduroyed with small poles cut into cross-pieces, and 

 poles are placed longways along the outer edge to keep the 

 sledge from slipping over any hillside or running off the track. 

 The cross-pieces must be close enough to allow the sledge always 

 to rest on two of them throughout its whole descent ; and where 

 woodmen drag the sleds, these cross-pieces should not be more 

 than 2 ft. apart to give the men a good foothold. Small hand- 

 sleds are used for fuel and large sledges for timber, all being 

 formed of two horizontal runners (often shod with iron), cross- 

 binders joined to the runners, and a strong hooked iron brake 

 or drag to regulate the speed. For hand-sledding the tracks are 

 made 4 to 6 ft. broad, with a constant gradient of from 1 in 

 14. up to even 1 in 4 (or 7 to 25 per cent). The large timber- 

 sledges drawn by horses, mules, or oxen consist of a front sled 

 and a hind sled, to raise the logs off the ground and diminish 

 friction. Both dragging and sledging are easiest on snow and 

 in wet weather. 



Sliding and shooting of timber are simple methods of ex- 

 traction largely practised in the mountainous woodlands of 

 Central Europe, and especially where the timber-slide can be 

 made to end at some point favourable for further transport 

 (in log or after conversion) by river, rail, or road. Timber- 

 slides of various kinds can be constructed on roadways or else 



