MARYLAND LOBLOLI.V I'lXK 401 



convenient, to be burned at leisure. A man with a rack wagon hauled 

 all the trimmed sticks to a central place where a combination cut-off 

 saw and splitting machine, operated by a G-horsepower gasoline engine, 

 made stove wood at the rate o£ a cord an hour, using two men on the 

 splitter. As a result of this work, he has the land ready for harrowing, 

 clear of everything but stumps, and these, especially the pine, will rot 

 in two or three years. 



Here are the figures for the work : 



Making sticks and hauling to pile, per cord $2. no 



Making into stove lengths (including stacking and splitting ) 1.50 



Selling price in the woods — 



Pine, per cord COO 



Mixed hardwoods, per cord 8.00 



Average price per cord " 7.00 



" Cord equals 3 14-inch sticks, hence little less than an actual ct)rd. 



Average yield, 10 cords per acre, at average $7.000 $70.00 



Costs as above 35.00 



Profit per acre $35.00 



But you say this isn't forestry for he is converting this land to agri- 

 cultural uses. My point is just this : This operator has demonstrated 

 that taking a place 6 miles from the market he can go in after most 

 lumbermen are through and get $35 per acre for clearing up the land. 

 This land happened to be chiefly valuable for agriculture, and hence 

 it very properly should be converted to that use. There are, however, 

 hundreds of acres of 6-mile land that are directly away from the rail- 

 road and hence not worth ST 5 per acre, which are, on the other hand, 

 accessible by roads as good or better than the one in question. Here 

 the land can be restocked to pine by planting either wild or nursery 

 stock at an outside cost with labor at $2. To per day. of $12 per acre, and 

 the owner is still $23 per acre to the good. 



