314 



Canadian Forestr]) Journal, Jul^, 1919 



MAKING FORESTRY PAY ITS WAY 



How a Stave Mill, Erected to Consume 

 Useless Hardwoods Turned in 42 

 per cent. 



The necessity of compromise between the 

 ideal forest of the technical expert and the 

 forest that can be developed within the restrict- 

 ing lines of profit-making, always provides a 

 halo of interest for any experiment in technical 

 woodland management. At a recent meeting 

 of the Pennsylvania Forestry Association, at- 

 tended by the Editor of the Canadian Forestry 

 Journal, Mr. Alfred E. Rupp, Forester of the 

 Buchanan Forest of Pennsylvania, recounted 

 the story of an experiment in the manufacture 

 of staves which netted 42 per cent profit. The 

 operation was not intended to help out the stave 

 supply but primarily to remove from a tract all 

 trees without future value so that young valuable 

 species might develop and form the predomin- 

 ating stand; secondly ,to market the products 

 at a fair profit; thirdly, to train sawyers and 

 operators for future stave mill operations. 



This has a special point of contact with one 

 of the gravest problems of operating the great 

 spruce forests of Eastern Canada on a basis of 

 sustained yield. In Central Quebec, for ex- 

 ample, the removal of white spruce brings along 

 a second crop of hardwoods and balsam fir in 

 which a new growth of spruce is an uncertain 

 factor. To remove the hardwoods, obviously, 

 will encourage the spruce, but how to make a 

 profitable logging proposition out of what un- 

 doubtedly is good forestry practice brings up 

 one of the knottiest questions of the hour. 

 A Better Forest. 

 It is not suggested by the Canadian Forestry 

 Journal that a profit of 42 per cent can be 

 promised on such an enterprise as Mr. Rupp's 

 under Canadian conditions for it must be re- 

 membered that the bulk of the machinery was 

 bought at scrap iron prices and some of the 

 labor performed by state employees was not 

 charged up to the final reckoning. The trans- 

 portation situation was strikingly better than 

 would be encountered in Northern Ontario. 



The chief problem before the eyes of For- 

 ester Rupp was to improve reforestation con- 

 ditions on the areas in his charge. He found 

 the land cumbered by a growth of fire-scarred. 



blighted, crooked and timberless trees, making 

 reproduction of valuable species exceedingly dif- 

 ficult. The entire area had been lumbered be- 

 tween 1900 and 1910, and all timber trees were 

 cut at that time. To cut for cordwood was 

 out of the question, owing to costs of trans- 

 portation, etc. Mr. Rupp therefore set about 

 to remove the useless trees and give a growing 

 chance to the seedlings of more valuable species. 

 Every care was taken, and additional expense 

 incurred to save the young growth from damage. 

 On 33 acres of the tract planting had been 

 done from 1911 to 1915 as follows: 30,000 

 white pine, 27,000 Norway spruce, 4,000 white 

 oak and numerous other species. The young 

 trees demanded more light and the canopy had 

 to be thinned. 



Liberal Profits. 

 Said Mr. Rupp: "We did not begin sawing 

 staves to see how much money could be made. 

 We are working for future benefits. If this 

 operation assures this, we need make expenses 

 only to justify the opjeration. We have made 

 more than expenses as the following statement 

 shows: We have sawed 501,944 staves, which 

 were sold f.o.b. our shipping point for $5,019.44. 

 The cost of manufacture to date is $3,528.44. 

 The profit therefore is $1,491 jOO, with a large 

 amount of unsold material on hand. The oper- 

 ating expenses are proportioned as follows: 

 Logging 23 per cent, sawing 62 per cent, mar- 

 keting 15 per cent. 



"The Department of Forestry paid $2.00 an 

 acre for this land. At an expense of $13.25 

 per acre, 33.8 acres of the area were planted in 

 trees. The shelter trees in the plantations have 

 all been removed, and about 25 acres additional 

 have been cleared of all large growth. The 

 chestnut has been removed from 80 acres by 

 selective cutting. The removal of this timber 

 and its manufacture into staves has paid the 

 Department more than $10.00 an acre. This 

 is $8.00 more than was paid for the land. We 

 expect the cleared area will reforest itself in 

 tulip poplar, and the selective cutting area in 

 hickory and chestnut oak. Great care, at extra 



