FOREST COM MISSION liR's REPORT. 95 



^Ianagement. 

 methods 01' i.umijkrixc. 



In typical lumbering operations in paper birch, cutting begins 

 the latter part of September or in October, after the growing- 

 season. Except in a few instances cutting is never done in 

 summer, owing to the danger of sap staining. The trees are 

 practically always felled with tlie ax, seldom with a saw. The 

 ^tumps are -usually 1V2 or 2 feet high. For spoolwood and 

 similar material a diameter limit of 6 inches, breasthigh. is often 

 adopted, and wherever possible the tops are utilized to a diam- 

 eter of 4 or 5 inches. For fuel, all trees over 3 inches are 

 taken, and the tops are utilized down to 2 inches. 



After the tree has been felled the method of handling varies 

 in difTerent localities. Sometimes the men work separately, 

 each man taking a given area and doing all the work on that 

 area himself. He chops down the trees, saws them into 4-foot 

 bolts with a buck saw, marks out and clears a road as he goes, 

 and finally piles the bolts into stacked cords along the road. 

 These are of regular size, 8 feet long and 4 feet wide, but are 

 made 4 feet 4 inches high to allow for the shrinking and settling 

 of the green v/ood. When the men work individually in this 

 way they are paid by the cord, usually $1.50. Under average 

 conditions an ordinary worker will put up i;< to 2^^ cords 

 per day, and an exceptionally good man 3 or even 4 cords. 

 Under particularly favorable circumstances a record of 5 or 6 

 cords per day has been maintained for several days. This 

 method of working is particularly adapted to dense stands of 

 small trees. 



Perhaps the more common method is by crews, in which each 

 man is given a definite part of the work to do. One man does 

 all the chopping, others all the sawing, and still others attend to 

 the piling. The sawyers usually work in pairs and use a large 

 crosscut saw, although they are also provided with individual 

 buck saws for the smaller logs. One chopper is able to fell 

 enough trees to keep four sawyers busy. After the trees have 

 been cut into 4- foot bolts these are removed on low sleds, man- 

 aged by a "sled tender," and then piled. Xo attempt is made 

 to have the piles contain an even number of cords, and their 

 exact contents are not known until they are measured by the 

 scaler. Their size and location arc determined wholly by con- 



