262 Proceedings of Indiana Academy of Science. 
into lumber without waste such logs as those of Liriodendron Tulipifera 
having a diameter of 12 feet as given by Britton,’ or even a diameter 
of 10 feet as given for this tree by Sargent.” Therefore, in order to 
handle these large logs, they were often split or quartered by bursting 
with gunpowder, so that they could be handled in the mill on the saw- 
carriage. The large double saw rigs having both a large upper and 
lower circular saw would lack a good deal of being able to handle such 
sticks of timber without previous reduction. The waste even then and 
in logs of moderate size is great when it is remembered that the ordi- 
nary gauge of sawmill circular saws cut away one-fourth of an inch 
of timber for each “line” or board that is sawed. Therefore, in logs 
12 feet in diameter and 12 feet long a large amount of good timber, 
if the log is sound, will be cut away in the form of sawdust and wasted. 
In proportion smaller logs, of course, lose in sawing. Band sawmills 
are more economical, since the kerf of most such saws is usually one- 
eighth of an inch. Trees of the yellow poplar seven feet in diameter 
are now, however, rarely found in Indiana, and no specimen 11 feet in 
diameter now exists. The scores of sawmills in Indiana have been one 
large agency in the removal of the timber. Most of these mills are 
ejuipped with circular saws and can cut from a few hundreds or thou- 
sands of feet of lumber daily up to many thousands of feet. Since, 
however, the strain on a circular saw is considerable, and this increases 
greatly with the increase in velocity of the “feed,” a large circular 
sawmill cannot be safely operated when cutting more than 80,000 feet 
of lumber per day. Much timber is now being cut into lumber that 
thirty or forty years ago would have been rejected, or only used for 
fuel, if even that. A band sawmill, besides being more economical as 
to narrowness of kerf, will cut more lumber per day, and for the same 
capacity requires less power to operate than the circular sawmill. The 
large “stationary sawmill” in various parts of the country use “band” 
or “gangsaws” and often cut hundreds of thousands of feet. For ex- 
ample, the plant of the Great Southern Lumber Company, Bogalusa, 
Louisiana, has the largest sawmill in the world. It has cut 1,018,000 
feet of lumber in a single day.’ With such factors as the sawmill, con- 
sumption for railroad ties, ete., and the “proverbial forest fires,” the 
forests are rapidly disappearing. 
Near Worthington, Indiana, stands what is probably the largest tree 
in this State. It is Plantanus occidentalis, is 42 feet 3 inches in cir- 
cumference and 100 feet high. Wood‘ also says of this species that, 
1N. L. Britton and A. Brown, l.c 
2C. S. Sargent, l.c. 
3 American Forestry, 1918, June, Vol. 24, p.. 338. 
4 Wood, Alphonso, i.c., p. 640. 
