UTILIZATION AT GERMAN SAWMILLS 



201 



An Old Woman Gathering Refuse from the Forest. 



THIS exemplifies IN A STRIKING WAY THE EXTENT TO WHICH THE GERMANS CAN PRACTICE 



INTENSIVE UTILIZATION. 



UTILIZATION AT GERMAN SAWMILLS 



By Nelson C. Brown 

 New York State College of Forestry at Syracuse 



TO AN American interested in a 

 more complete utilization of 

 the raw products of our forests, 

 a study of utilization at German 

 sawmills is most interesting. It is said 

 that in Germany, 94 per cent to 96 per 

 cent of the whole tree on the average is 

 utilized, even stumps being grubbed 

 out and used for fuel and tar along with 

 the faggots from the smallest branches, 

 whereas it has been estimated by the 

 U. S. Forest Service that we only use 

 about 40 per cent of the average tree 

 that is felled in the woods. 



Of course, the obvious explanation of 

 this discrepancy between American 

 and German utilization is the difference 

 in market conditions — wood is so scarce 

 and consequently prices are so com- 

 paratively high in Germany that prac- 

 tically speaking, nothing goes to waste 

 and no wood is too far distant from 

 market to find an attractive price. But 

 aside from this explanantion, we must 



give the Germans credit for studying 

 their market more carefully and using 

 machines and methods that we will 

 come to use sooner or later. Although 

 observations of their closer utilization 

 may be largely suggestive in their 

 present application to American condi- 

 tions, yet, we are passing through very 

 much the same economic environment 

 that the older nations of Europe passed 

 through two or three hundred years ago 

 and we can take advantage of and 

 profit by many of their close practices 

 which our conditions will soon make 

 possible. 



It has often been an open question 

 in this country as to whether the 

 ultimate mill will be a large or a small 

 one and which will secure the better 

 and more complete utilization. In 

 Germany, the small mill is the rule and 

 there is no evidence that they will in- 

 crease in size. They would correspond 

 roughly to our mills having a capacity 



