62 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 



roads are all made, and, just as he cuts, so he hauls when 

 it is convenient, utilizing weather and time to good advan- 

 tage. If the winter is too open or otherwise unfavorable, 

 he does no more than he is obliged to do. 



Once in the woods the lumberman must build roads, 

 clear a landing, and make sure that he has a brook or 

 river capable of floating his logs; otherwise he must 

 build a railway to haul them out. In all cases this 

 item of railway building is very great, amounting gen- 

 erally to twenty per cent and more of all expenses. 

 Then, when once the crew is felling and skidding or, 

 as in the Adirondacks and many of the spruce woods, 

 when once the logs are all skidded, he must haul them 

 out whether there is too much or too little snow, whether 

 the weather is good or bad. If the logs are to be driven 

 down a brook or small stream, a broken dam or a dry 

 season may cause lack of water and prevent the driving, 

 and thus the logs will remain in the woods, involving 

 great loss to the owner. 



Again, the farmer forester lives in a settled country, 

 near mills and towns where he can sell his wood, and 

 not an inconsiderable part of his market is in his own 

 household and farm. His market is at home or near by, 

 and transportation to market is practicable for nearly all 

 kinds of his wood materials. 



In many parts of our country the lumberman's logs 

 travel more than a hundred miles before they reach the 



