EFFECT OF CHANGED CONDITIONS UPON FORESTRY 659 



logging sufficient to permit the reservation of timber — low grade for 

 price appreciation, small trees for accretion, or trees of the choicest 

 species for seed trees, if selection of such seems genetically desirable. 



If the negative value of certain species and classes of trees has been 

 a deterrent to silvicultural practice, the necessity for extensive opera- 

 tions has been an additional unfavorable factor, requiring railroad con- 

 struction and high overhead and calling for the contribution of all 

 stumpage to reduce the unit value of construction. This has neces- 

 sitated practically clean cutting, with the prospect of a long interval 

 before another cutting would be possible on the cut-over land and with 

 little opportunity for determining the choice of species in the restock- 

 ing. The passage of the big operation in the East is imminent, how- 

 ever, not only in yellow pine (as recently forecast by Mr. J. E. Rhodes 

 before the Yellow Pine Association), but it is about to take place in the 

 Appalachians as it has already taken place in the Northeast. The out- 

 look a decade ago was that after the big operators had cut out there 

 would be reversion to the sash saw and the portable circular outfit, with 

 its wasteful kerf, desultory practice, and unprogressive operator. These 

 provided a low-grade product which commanded a relatively low 

 price, but from certain angles was favorable to the promotion of silvi- 

 cultural practice, since cable logging, with its consequent breakage of 

 small trees, was not employed and frequent cuttings could be made on 

 small units. 



Now, however, the motor truck and the portable band-mill seem 

 likely to furnish a combination which will banish the circular mill, be- 

 cause they supply the efficiency and cheapness of railroad operation, 

 and are applicable to stands of low-grade timber and to small and scat- 

 tered tracts. At the same time there is secured a higher grade of lum- 

 ber than is possible with the usual inserted-tooth circular sawmill. The 

 motor truck is being used for logging as well as for hauling lumber, 

 and the fact that the portable band-mill may be economically moved for 

 a cut of a million board feet assures adaptability, This is not only an 

 industrial advance, but it aft'ords the possibility of cuttings at frequent 

 intervals without materially added cost. 



A case can be cited of an Appalachian operation with a holding of 

 20,000 acres, located 20 miles from a shipping point. After consider- 

 ing building a railroad, it was decided to try out trucks on account of 

 their low overhead, although it was realized that, on account of wet 

 earth roads, hauling with them could be possible only about nine months 

 a year. The haulage cost of this operation, including full charge for 



