FELLING AND LOG-MAKING 89 



DEADENING 



Deadening or girdling consists in cutting a ring around the 

 tree deep enough to penetrate to the heartwood. This ring is 

 made just above the root swelling, approximately at the sawing 

 point. 



The deadening of trees reduces the water content of the boles 

 and renders them lighter in weight. It is seldom resorted to 

 with most species, because those which cannot be floated when 

 cut in the ordinary way are either left standing or are railroaded 

 to the mill. The greater part of the cypress timber will not 

 float in a green condition, hence deadening or girdling is almost 

 universal because a large per cent of the timber must be taken 

 to the mill by water, due to the absence of railroad facilities. 

 Even where c;y'press timber is railroaded it is usually girdled be- 

 cause (i) the logs will then float in the mill pond, (2) the sap- 

 wood is rendered somewhat tougher and skidding tongs do not 

 pull out so readily, and (3) the heartwood in green timber swells 

 during cutting and binds the saw. 



Logging in cypress swamps is carried on at all seasons of the 

 year and some girdle timber at any convenient time, although 

 the sapwood is more subject to insect attacks at certain seasons. 

 The greatest damage occurs during the months from May to Sep- 

 tember, inclusive.^ Girdling, which precedes felling from a few 

 weeks to several months, is generally done by contract for 7 or 

 8 cents per tree. One man will girdle about twenty-five trees 

 per day. 



DIRECTION OF FALL 



This should be governed by the following factors : 

 (i) The lean of the tree. By the use of wedges a straight 

 tree may be sawed to fall in any direction. Heavily leaning 

 trees can be thrown by the same means in any one of three 

 directions, namely, as it leans or to either side. Where a tree 

 leans only shghtly and its inchnation cannot be determined 

 readily by the eye, an ax handle held suspended like a plumb 



1 Hopkins, A. D.: Pinhole Injury to Girdled Cypress in the South Atlantic 

 States. U. S. Bureau of Entomology, Cir. No. 82, 1907. 



