OBSERVATIONS ON THE FUTURE SAWMILL. 

 By Herbert J, Miles. 



In his paper entitled "The Sawmill of the Future," printed in 

 Volume VI, Number 4, of the Forestry Quarterly, Mr. E. A. 

 Sherman, after comparing the work and merits of the large and 

 the small sawmill, concludes that the large sawmill will in the 

 future give way to the small mill. Mr. Burt P. Kirkland, in a 

 paper entitled "Probable Evolution in the Sawmill Industry," 

 presented in the Forestry Quarterly, Volume XI, Number i, 

 sets forth in detail the superior qualities of the large mill over 

 the small mill, and concludes that the larger mill will be the typical 

 mill of the future. These conclusions are to my mind too gen- 

 eral, for I believe both types of mill have and will continue to 

 have broad fields of usefulness, and that neither type will largely 

 supersede the other. The qualities and merits of the two types of 

 mill are fully shown in the papers cited, and it is unnecessary to 

 repeat them here. I wish to state briefly the views of an observer 

 on the respective places of the large and the small sawmill. 



The large sawmill must have on the one hand an abundance 

 of timber easily accessible, and on the other large nearby mar- 

 kets for its products, or means of export to large markets, in 

 order to live. This type of mill by its nature must have mar- 

 kets which use varied products, and the means of utilizing, or 

 of disposing for utilization, its wastes- It is in thickly settled 

 communities near ample supplies of timber that these necessary 

 conditions occur, and it is here that the large sawmill will continue 

 to find its place. The more populated regions of the Atlantic and 

 Pacific coasts with growing cities, served by rail and water, means 

 of bringing timber to the mill and of distributing the product, will 

 be the home of the large sawmill. In the cities and towns of 

 Maine on drivable streams are now found mills of this type. In 

 the Interior of New England the large mill is found in the pop- 

 ulous communities having railroads, and becomes less prominent 

 as one goes back into the less settled country. 



The small sawmill, furnishing a restricted product both in 

 kind and quantity, fills the needs of small communities in sparsely 



