32 



It is natural to suppose that the men who worked on the drives, 

 wet with the icy water of early spring and eating four and sometimes 

 five meals a day, would consume more food than any other class of 

 lumber workers, but while making the preliminary arrangements for 

 the exjjeriments it was learned from the operators that in their opinion 

 this was not the case. They stated that it took 25 per cent more food 

 and cost nearly twice as much to feed the men while at work in the 

 woods, particularly early in the season, as it did when upon the 

 drives. In spite of this the comparatively small amounts of nutrients 

 and energy supplied by the food eaten while the men were on the 

 drive seem surprising, the protein and the energy of the diet in this 

 case (dietary No. 392) being one-fourth less than when the crew was 

 at work chopping. The articles included in the daily menus help to 

 explain this. In dietaries Nos. 390, 391, 393; and 394 there was a con- 

 siderable variety in the food, as great, in fact, as has been noted in 

 studies with a considerable number of men in comparable circum- 

 stances who lived closer to markets; but when driving logs the men 

 were compelled to eat alone, whereverthe cookee chanced to find them, 

 and their four or five meals per day were made up invariably of beans, 

 biscuits, cookies, tea, and molasses. These conditions might nat- 

 urally tend to lessen the appetite. This study (No. 392) was made 

 when the lumber crew had Just begun driving logs— that is, immedi- 

 ately after they had been living upon a more abundant diet. As may 

 be seen by reference to the data in the tables regarding the weights of 

 the men at the beginning of the several dietary studies (pp. 16, 18, 

 22, 25, and 27), this change was accompanied by a loss of weight in 

 the case of the men in dietary No. 392, who were engaged in severe 

 work (driving logs), as compared with their weights in earlier studies. 

 There were nine such men (T. H., M. B., J. D., E. F., J. H., J. P., 

 A. F., A. R., and E. T.), and in all cases except one loss of weight 

 was observed, ranging from 1 to 9 pounds and being on an average 

 6 pounds. In the case of the ninth man (E. T.) there was a small 

 gain, namely, 1 pound. 



By reference to Table 12 it may be seen that the amount of protein 

 in the dietary of the Maine lumbermen when chopping and yarding 

 considerably exceeded the amount called for by the commonly 

 accepted American dietary standard for men at very hard muscular 

 Avork. In the case of men drawing logs to the landing it was practi- 

 cally equal to the amount called for by this standard, and in the case 

 of the men engaged in river driving it was considerably less, being 

 practically the amount called for by the standard for men with hard 

 muscular work. Considering the average of all the studies, the 

 amount of protein was only 12 grams in excess of the standard for 

 men at very hard muscular work. As regards energy, the average 

 amount furnished by the dietaries of men engaged in chopping and 

 yarding and in drawing logs to the landing was far in excess of the 



