MASSACHUSETTS WOODLANDS. 25 



However, before undertaking a thinning, with some exceptions, 

 the owner should be assured that he will very nearly " break even," 

 in order to be justified in doing the work. 



The following general rules are laid out to enable owners to tell 

 whether a thinning will pay for itself or not : 



1. The thinning should be fairly heavy. At least 7 or 8 cords 

 per acre must usually be cut out to assure financial success. 



2. There must not be a large amount of brush to cut. 



3. Not very much ornamental work, as limbing up trees that 

 are left, etc., can be done. 



4. Large open-grown trees cost more to cut than the wood is 

 worth, also small sprouts. 



5. The labor must be efficient. If day labor is employed it 

 should be previously experienced in this kind of work, or its cost 

 will be excessive. 



6. Experienced and constant supervision is necessary in an opera- 

 tion of any size to get the best results. 



COST DATA. 



In the following tables the costs of thinning operations are 

 analyzed. " Supervision " takes account of the foreman's time when 

 not engaged in productive work, and includes part of the time spent 

 in marking trees for the cutters. " Cutting " includes chopping or 

 sawing down the trees; trimming the branches; cutting tie logs, 

 saw logs and piles, and in one case hewing the ties; and cutting, 

 splitting and piling the cord wood. " Brush disposal " includes 

 cutting the underbrush where necessary, and piling and burning 

 all the rubbish. Where the cost of this item per cord is high, much 

 underbrush was cut; on the job where it was 35 cents per cord, 

 practically all the underbrush was left. " Miscellaneous " includes 

 the foreman's time on rainy days; sharpening saws; time and ex- 

 penses in moving; and so forth. "Tools" cover the actual cost 

 of depreciation and replacement of the tools used. 



In computing the costs per cord it was assumed that tie logs 

 cost 5 cents each to cut ; oak saw logs $2 per M and pine $1 ; piling 

 1 cent per running foot; and cedar posts 5 cents each. From 

 these figures was calculated the equivalent in cords of all other 

 products on each job, and the sum of cords and equivalents taken 

 as the total number of cords cut. 



Table I. gives the total cost, with the average, high and low cost 

 per cord and per acre of the different items, for six representative 



