94 LOGGING 



sawing proceeds the wedge point is made to follow the back of 

 the saw by occasional blows. Sawing in a direction parallel 

 with the undercut progresses until the tree begins to fall, where- 

 upon one sawyer withdraws the saw and both seek a place of 

 safety. On very large timber fallers first saw deeply .on both 

 sides of the undercut, then saw around the tree, making the last 

 cut on the back side of the bole parallel to the undercut. 



Trees with rotten hearts require different treatment from 

 sound ones because the decayed bole is apt to give away before it 

 is severed from the stump. A cut a few inches deep is made 

 around the tree and then the bole is severed from the rear as in 

 felling sound timber. Even if the bole gives away before the cut 

 is completed it seldom splits badly. Felling during high winds 

 is accomplished in the same manner. The direction of fall under 

 either of the above circumstances often cannot be determined 

 accurately, and the work is considered hazardous. 



When timber is felled in a direction other than that in which 

 it leans the faller leaves the most wood between the saw-cut and 

 the undercut on the side opposite to that in which the tree leans. 

 This tends to pull the tree in the desired direction. 



STUMP HEIGHTS 



There is no rule other than a commercial one regulating 

 stump heights in different sections of the countr}^ Loggers in 

 early days cut very high stumps in order to avoid root swelling, 

 pitchy butts and other defects. 



The greatest waste from this source occurred in the Pacific 

 Coast forests where stumps sometimes from 15 to 18 feet high 

 were left by the early logging operators. Twelve thousand feet 

 of merchantable timber per acre was not an excessive amount to 

 be wasted in this manner. At the present time sound stumps 

 seldom exceed 3 or 4 feet in height. Coniferous species, hke 

 western larch, often are so pitchy in the butt that from 4 to 6 feet 

 must be left in the stump when the timber is to be transported 

 by water. In the yellow pine forests of the South the stumps 

 are cut from 16 to 24 inches high; in the spruce region of the 

 Northeast they are often from 12 to 15 inches. 



