20 PRACTICAL FORESTRY IN NEW BRUNSWICK. 



quicTcly ; the lopping and scattering of brush over the ground 

 (with hardwoods) ; and the piling and burning of brush either as 

 logging proceeds or as a separate opeiation. To make regulations 

 as to the disposal of brush requires a careful investigation into the 

 effects and costs of disposal by the different methods. 



In the Canada Lumberman of November 15. 1910. will be found 

 an interesting article on the loppmg of branches of coniferous trees 

 as required by statute in the Stat« of New York. While the cost 

 IS the main argiiment against it, one lumberman states that 

 through decreased labor in skidding the actual cost of lopping doe-* 

 not excetid five cents per thousand feet of lumber. Another by 

 taking timber out of the tops for pulpwood, says that with a 

 force of eight men and a horse for six days he secured 97 cords of 

 pulpwood worth $7.00 per cord, an average of two cords per day, 

 making a very profitable operation. The advantages for lopping 

 of tops as given are : 1. They will lie close to the ground and 

 rot very much faster, lessening the fire danger. 2. In the Adir- 

 ondacks reproduction is promoted because the ground is kept 

 moist and seedlings are protected by the tops. 3. The saving of 

 materia' in logs or pulpwood, which may partly pay for the cost 

 of the work. -4. Less labor for swamping and skidding. In*New 

 Brunswick, T)erhaps, the first reason would be the strongest argu- 

 ment, since most operators claim that the logs are so small and 

 pulpwood so knotty obtained by running further into the tops 

 that it would not pay the cost of driving. Conditions in the 

 Adirondacks and here are very similar, but this regulation could 

 only be adopted and enforced after a careful investigation and 

 trial as to results, costs and success elsewhere. 



The burning of slash is a st^ep still farther in advance which the 

 limit holder would decry here, but on the National forests in the 

 United States every operator burns his brush under the direction 

 and oversight of a forest ofl&cer or ranger. Otherwise the opera- 

 tion is not closed up and he is held for extra stumpage. For soft 

 woods the cost of burning brush varies from 15c. to $1.00 per 

 thousand feet of lumber, depending on the thickness of the stand 

 and charact*^r of the tops. This cost is necessarily lower when 

 the burning can be carried along with the lumbering, but the best 

 time is when the snow is on the ground, so that is not always pos- 

 sible. A series of exi)eriment8 will be carried on by the Minister 



