356 Forestry Quarterly 



financial return. Where the condition of the timber and the 

 wishes of the owner are such as to warrant it, a small operation, 

 just large enough to take care of the local trade, will not only 

 return larger profits, but also give less opportunity for labor 

 troubles and permit of more careful and thorough work. 



In disposing of the various products manufactured, serious 

 trouble was experienced in getting rid of material less than 6 

 inches in diameter. This difficulty appears to be general in 

 blighted chestnut utilization. There are many different products 

 into which this stock may be manufactured, such as cordwood, 

 mine props, collar timbers, mine ties, puddling sticks, fence rails, 

 holed, round, tapered and flatted fence posts, extract wood, slack 

 cooperage, kindling wood and charcoal. The profit on all these 

 products is so very small, however, that if it were not for the 

 necessity of getting rid of all the material in some form in 

 many localities this size of wood would be left in the slash. As 

 far as the operation discussed in this article is concerned, the only 

 forms in which this small material could be disposed of at any 

 profit at all, locally, were round and tapered fence posts. Cord- 

 wood, flatted and round posts were sold at a small profit to out- 

 of-town concerns. All other uses were impractical from the 

 financial point of view, since no mines, smelters, extract plants, 

 cooperage factories, or other users of such products were 

 located nearby, and the freight rates exceeded the profit over 

 and above the actual cost of production. 



In order to furnish some concise idea of actual prices received 

 for the various products sold, the figures of the first eleven 

 months of the operation have been arranged and are given below : 



Lumber: per M feet delivered;- 1-inch stock, $22.18; 2-inch 

 stock, $22.75. Timbers: per M feet delivered, $22.48. Railroad 

 ties: Each f .o.b. ; Small, 323/2C; 6x8 inches, 53c; 7x9 inches, 

 55c; switch, $23.07 per M feet. Poles: 30-foot, Class B, $2.75 

 each. Cordwood: 4-foot, per cord, when called for by purchaser, 

 $3.00 ; when delivered by wagon, $4.00 ; when shipped out of 

 town, $4.52, f.o.b. Slabs: Cut into 4-foot lengths, shipped out of 

 town, $3.66 per cord, f.o.b.; odd lengths, $1.00 per load at mill; 

 $4.00 local delivery. Tapered fence posts: 5x5 inches to 3 x 5 

 inches, 22 ^c each, local delivery. Round peeled fence posts: 

 5-inch top, 20c each, local delivery; unpeeled, 5-inch top, 7 feet 

 long, 10c each, f.o.b. Sawdust: 25c per load at the mill. 



'Delivered prices include freight charge. 



