26 BULLETIN 87, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
s true ted and successfully operated where the only sawed lumber 
used was that for the box, the trestling, sills, crosspieces, stringers, 
arms, and braces all being made from round poles flattened so as to 
fit solidly in the construction work. This method of construction is, 
however, often more expensive than to use the sawed material, where 
the latter can be economically obtained and cut into proper lengths 
by a power saw. 
The use of poles or small round material usually makes it necessary 
to cut the braces, arms, etc., into the desired length and form by hand 
power, and the increased cost of the manual labor necessary in such 
cases usually more than counterbalances the expense of having the 
material sawed at a mill, when this can be done without prohibitory 
expense. Existing conditions should always decide what method of 
construction will be most advisable. Illustrations of flumes where 
onlv the "box" was constructed of sawed lumber are shown in Plate 
VIIL 
WATER USED IN FLUMING SOMETIMES AVAILABLE FOR IRRIGATION 
PURPOSES. 
In some localities in the western country where irrigation is nec- 
essary, it will be found possible to utilize the water brought out from 
the mountains by the aid of a flume for irrigation purposes after it 
has served its purpose as the transporting medium for logs, timber, 
or lumber. 
Where there is a possibility of using the water for irrigation, it 
may be found advisable to construct a flume on a larger scale than is 
absolutely necessary for the simple transportation of the lumber and 
timber, in order to increase the amount of water available for irriga- 
tion purposes. This is a feature that should be carefully considered 
by the prospective operator when local conditions are such that a 
combination of the two different uses of the water can be made 
remunerative. 
BRAILING AND ACCOUTRING LUMBER. 
Where sawed lumber is being shipped for a long distance in a flume, 
it has in some cases been found advisable to brail or clamp a number 
of the boards, planks, or other material together, in order to make a 
compact body and thus reduce to a minimum the danger of forming 
jams and injuring the material being transported. It has also been 
found advisable to accoutre or hitch several of the "brails" together, 
by the use of short sections of shingle twine, wire, or other form of 
attachment, between the different clamped or brailed blocks of sawed 
lumber. In practice it is customary to pile from 10 to 20 boards or 
planks, usually aggregating about 200 feet, in a block at the mill or 
point where the shipping is being done. The size of the brail depends 
on the size of the flume and the class of material being shipped, 
