26 



Prolonging the Cut of Southern Pine 



Plate IV, Fig. 1, four feet nearer. The sawyers in each case dis- 

 regarded their employer's interests and made the cut at the point 

 where the least labor was involved. Although cutting at the 

 proper point would, because of the swelling, have required more 

 work, the value of the extra time consumed would have been only 

 a small part of the worth of the timber saved. 



(3) Cutting too far above the crotch. In the tree shown in 

 Plate III, Fig. 1, the cut should have been made three feet lower 

 on the tree and in Plate IV, Fig. 1, two feet lower, thereby saving 

 42 feet log scale in the first and 21 feet in the second case without 

 additional expense for labor. The further waste of an 18-foot 

 log fourteen inches in diameter (103 board feet log scale), shown 

 in Plate III, Fig. 1, as partly bedded in the ground, can be 

 explained as due to insufficient inspection. The stumpage value 

 of the waste in this tree alone, at $4.50 per thousand feet, is 

 $1.60. 



9'0- 



FIG 2. FORKED TREE IMPROPERLY CUT. 



The waste of stumpage was not the only loss, since close obser- 

 vation of forked logs showed that in all cases the transportation 

 and handling from the stump through the mill was accompanied 

 by greater labor and expense than straight logs of the same 

 diameter. An extreme case is illustrated in Fig. 2. The log was 

 12 feet long and 18 inches in diameter at one end, and because 

 of its form was exceedingly difficult to handle. The yield of 

 sawed lumber was not determined, but was estimated to be only 

 40 per cent of the full content of a straight 18-inch log. The 

 following time was consumed in handling: from mill pond to mill 

 deck, 12 minutes; throwing log out of log trough, 4 minutes; 

 sawing, 13 minutes, a total of 29 minutes. 



So much time was consumed in getting this log onto the mill deck 

 that the band mill was out of logs for five minutes. The gang 

 saw also ran out of cants and was idle for three minutes because 

 of the stoppage of the band which was slabbing logs for it. 



The thirteen minutes required for sawing was six times greater 

 than the average for a straight 18-inch log 12 feet, and the 



