114 Forestry Quarterly. 



leaf Pine, after it is cut down the ground remains barren or comes 

 up again in Longleaf, if conditions for reproduction are present. 



The excUisive character of the soil, and light needing nature of 

 the lyongleaf Pine tending to make the trees of the stand of uni- 

 form size greatly complicates the problem of management. The 

 mature pine is, as a rule, about fifteen inches or more in diameter 

 on the stump, exactlj^ the diameter to which the timber is cut 

 here. This means practicallj' clean cutting. If no provision is 

 made for reproduction after the timber is cut, the land not able to 

 support any other species and not fit for agriculture will become 

 wa.ste land. 



The reproduction of the Longleaf Pine forest is complicated 

 with many difficulties as fire and hog raising ; that it cannot be 

 obtained without sacrifices at present on the part of the owner is 

 self-evident, and the question whether it will pay to make the 

 sacrifices is beyond my ability to answer. 



Wm. B. Howard. 



Lumbering methods vary only in details on the different parts 

 of this tract, and a few of the most striking features of the oper- 

 ations as carried on at the Silsbee, Harden Co. works may be 

 taken as representative of the whole. The woods where the cut- 

 ting is being done is seven miles from the mill at Silsbee and is 

 reached by a standard gauge train. The engine used is of fifty 

 tons and similar to thirty-one others owned by the company. 

 Two trips are made a day, one early in the morning taking the 

 men to work, and the other in the afternoon ; on the first return 

 trip eight or nine loaded cars, and in the evening about eighteen 

 loaded cars are drawn to the mill. A car will hold logs scaling 

 abotit 2700 feet, thus the two trains will accommodate close to 

 70,000 feet the total day's cut. This catting is for the Silsbee 

 mill alone, and the compan)' operates thirteen other mills, some 

 larger some smaller ; the present rate of cutting per year is about 

 350,000,000 feet. 



The sawyers work in gangs of two and cut on an average 

 17,000 feet a day per crew, for which they are paid 30 cents a 

 thousand. Logs are cut in 24 and 32 foot lengtlis except on 

 special orders. As soon as they are sawed and scaled they are 

 skidded by a team of mules directly to the skidway if they are 



