FOREST COMMISSIONER'S REPORT. 97 



feet make a stacked cord, a cord scaled by the New Hampshire 

 nile is equivalent to 1.9 stacked cords. This explains why con- 

 siderably h-ghcr prices are often obtained for birch bought by 

 the New Hampshire rule than by the stacked cord. 



Occasionally paper birch is cut into boards, to be later ripped 

 up and manufactured into bobbins and shuttles. In this case it 

 is scaled by the thousand feet, board measure, New Hampshire 

 rule. 



Birch stumpage varies from $0.75 to $2 per cord, according 

 to its quality and location. The average price is about $1.50 

 per cord. 



After the bolts have been cut and stacked along the logging 

 roads, the final step in the lumbering operations is to get them 

 to the mill. This is done on sleds when the ground is covered 

 with snow. Sometimes only a few main roads are used, with 

 no branches, and the bolts are all carried from their oris^inal 

 piles and stacked along these main roads. The more usual 

 way, however, is to pile them near where they are cut and have 

 numerous branch roads leading to these piles. Cutting is con- 

 tinued until the deep snow interferes seriously with the work, 

 when the rest of the winter is devoted to hauling. The hauling 

 is usually done with horses and sleds. Steam log haulers are 

 used to some extent and give good results, particularly when 

 long hauls are necessary. Spool-bar mills are often set up near 

 the source of supply and the bars taken from there to the spool 

 mill. This obviates unnecessary hauling of waste in the bolts. 

 When a railroad runs near the source of supply it is made use 

 of; and since paper birch is heavy and difficult to handle, it is 

 probable that the exploitation of the more remote and inacces- 

 sible areas will depend largely on the development of railroad 

 logging. 



A marked variation from the usual method of operation is in 

 the few cases where the logs are driven or rafted to the mill. 

 When this is done the logs are never cut into bolts in the woods, 

 but the whole stem is put into the water. Contrary to common 

 belief, green paper birch will float for a while, and it is some- 

 times put into the water in this condition. But, since seasoned 

 wood is lighter, it is usually first seasoned to some extent. An 

 effective method is to cut the trees in summer and leave the 

 tops on. The leaves continue to transpire moisture for a while, 

 v.ilh the result that a large quantity is removed from the tree 

 7 



