ROUGH CONVERSION. 243 



modify this rule and decide on the number of sawmill butts 

 which will be sawn from the stem. It is not, as a rule, 

 financially advisable to prepare butts for sawmills of less mid- 

 diameter than 12 to 13J inches (30 to 35 centimeters) ; small 

 butts may, however, be split or sawn into laths. 



(d) Facilities for Transport. In converting large standards 

 over a dense growth of saplings or poles, it is often considered 

 best, out of respect to the young wood, to cut them into short 

 lengths. Exceptionally this may be justifiable, but usually 

 should be avoided, for the standard was retained expressly to 

 yield large timber. 



All shortening of stems should be done with the saw, and 

 only long logs which are to be dragged along the ground, 

 slid down-hill with ropes, or floated in rafts, should have their 

 larger ends rounded with the axe. 



There are many localities, in more or less accessible moun- 

 tain districts, where the method of conversion depends on the 

 possibility of transport, and where the preparation of long 

 logs cannot be contemplated, because they cannot be 

 removed. 



(if 



All wood, and especially pieces of valuable broadleaved 

 timber, should bo exposed by cutting through all swellings, or 

 overgrown knots, so as to show its inner quality and increase 

 the confidence of the purchaser. 



In the Spessart, and for the Baltic trade, oak-logs are split 

 down the centre into half-balks, so as to expose completely the 

 interior of the wood. This wood is used by the cabinet- 

 maker. 



v. rii'i>arnlion of llu 1 inoxl Vahiubli' J 



Whenever stems may be converted in several ways, that way 

 should be adopted which is expected to yield the best price. 



vi. Conversion of Poles. 



Poles, suitable for pit-props, hop-poles, cart-poles, telegraph- 

 posts, ladders, shafts, hurdles, bean-sticks, etc., which come 

 partly from the principal fellings, but chiefly from thinnings, 



E 2 



