118 ALLOCATION OF FELLINGS. 



the latter. According to this Rale a group of compartments forming 

 a continuous belt on the same slope must be worked from' the 

 bottom upwards. The Rule in question is excellent, provided the 

 gradient of the slope is not too steep; On slopes-so steep that wood 

 cut on the upper portion could not be removed except by having it 

 dragged or slipped through the portions below, the young growth in 

 these latter must inevitably be destroyed, or at least suffer consid- 

 erable injury. This happens on all slopes which we have qualified 

 as steep i. e. which exceed 1 in 3. In that case the Fourth. Rule 

 has to give way to the Second and the exploitations must begin at 

 the top with certain precautionary restrictions to be now described. 



When the slope runs up to a considerable height, it is seldom 

 that it is not divided off into terraces, each terrace containing a 

 road or path running more or less horizontally, or offering capabili- 

 ties for the construction of such road or path. Each such terrace thus 

 forms an independent, compact mass of forest as regards the removal 

 of the standing timber. The Organisation Project should, therefore, 

 fix the exploitation of the successive terraces according to their 

 relative position, beginning with the lowest in accordance with the 

 Fourth Rule ; bat for each taken separately, the observance of the 

 Second Rule may require the exploitations to work from the top 

 downwards. 



In any case, an excellent plan, when the slope is wooded rio-lit 

 up to the top, is to maint&in intact a belt of forest at the highest 

 point, broad enough to resist the fo-rce of the strongest winds, while 

 the lower portions are being exploited. In elevated situations, such 

 protective belts can only be worked by Selection. When the 

 climate is not very rigorous, they may be completely cleared 

 last of all. 



The Fifth Rule for locating coupes requires them to be long 

 and narrow, and to present their least dimension for the ■ wind to 

 impinge upon. It is only an extension of the Third Rule. It may 

 be usefully observed in co'pses, but its chief raison d'etre is in hilly 

 or mountainous country. But it is connected more with the lavint>- 

 out of the annual cuttings, which is an operation to be left to the- 

 discretion of the executive ofificer, than with the general prescrip- 

 tions of the Organisation Project. However useful the object of 



