14:0 FOREST commissioner's REPORT. 



vary at different points on the Androscoggin, the difference 

 in price l)eing variously set at from one dollar to two dollars 

 per thousand. 



Similarly with cost of logging. Some men say that when 

 their roads are in, they can cut down to the smallest limit of 

 trees (to eight or ten inches at l)reast high) as cheaply per 

 thousand as they can cut the larger lumber. Yarding* they 

 say costs the same — the only way in which a difference comes 

 in is on a long haul. On these points I have to take the 

 testimony of those who have had experience, and this is what 

 most of them say. 



The question now arises — how much comparatively are 

 trees of different size worth as the axeman steps up to them 

 in the woods? Certainly on land cut on stumpage the small- 

 est could hardly l)e handled at all, for they cannot, over and 

 above expense of handling, pay an even rate of stumpage 

 based on the value of the larger trees. Most lands on the 

 Androscoggin, however, are not operated in that way. The 

 land owner and mill owner are one ; frequently lumbering, 

 too, is directly run by the same party. The values that we 

 must set are simply the difference between the cost of cutting 

 Value of j^j^j oettino; to market and the value of the timber 



small trees & c 



standing. -^yhen it is there. Puttino- together what facts I 

 could learn, and especially assisted by my friend, Mr. Pike, 

 it seems that the figures set below are not far from represent- 

 ino^ the o-eneral conditions of the country. If trees over four- 

 teen inches in diameter are worth standing three dollars per 

 thousand, those from ten to fourteen mav be worth two 



* Yarding, it may be well to state for tlie benefit of readers who are not familiar 

 with New England lumbering, is bunching the logs from a district together along- 

 side a main road. The lumber from a few acres or from a large district may be 

 so brouglit together and rolled up into one pile. This work may be done in 

 autumn or summer, tlie logs being dragged by horses one or a few at a time from 

 the stump to the yard. 



Hauling from the yard in nxost cases has to wait for snow, not only because 

 sleds transport easier a heavj^ load than any otlier kind of horse vehicle, but 

 because snow grades and levels the roads. Ordinarily, the lumber is hauled from 

 the yard to a stream or hike and is carried to the mill by water. Logs may also 

 be j'arded to a railway. What in Maine is called a yard, in Michigan is known as 

 a skid way. 



