90 



CAXADIAX FORESTRY ASSOCIATION'. 



and injuring the new surface of the stick when squared. These notches are usually 

 inches apart along each side of the stick, and are sometimes as much 

 as a foot in depth near the butts of large trees, while owing to the ease with which 

 clear pine is split the wood between these notches, called score blocks, is often blocked 

 off by an expert chopper with a single stroke of the axe. After the removal of these 

 score blocks the scorer chops and chips off all surplus wood remaining, as close as 

 possible, without cutting quite down to the line of the proposed squared surface. 

 Then the hewer follows with his broadaxe and hews off all wood left by the scorer 

 down to the line, and obliterates all traces of the scores made by the scorer's axe. 

 After both sides are hewn square, the stick is then canted over on to one of its flatted 

 sides, and the other two sirles are lined, scored and hewn, and the stick is then ready 

 to be skidded and hauled to the landing. 



J may remark that so skilful do some of these men become from constant use 

 of the broadaxe, that I have seen one, when hewing a large mast stick that was over 

 six feet in diameter at the butt, to hew a clean surface of over four feet in depth so 

 smooth and perfect that it looked as if it had been carefully planed, and where one 

 could with difficulty discern where a stroke of the axe had been made upon it. 



Now, let us compare the condition of the forest before and after the timberman 

 had completed his work and removed the timber, and assuming that it was a grove of 

 mature pine say from 200 to 300 years old, you would have found before the advent 

 of the timberman, that the ground was strewn with many layers of pine needles, only 

 the top layers of which were at all dry, the bottom layers being moist near the ground 

 owing to the crowns of the trees making a close canopy and shading the forest floor 

 from the rays of the sun. Underneath this close canopy you would find little, if any, 

 underbrush, and not enough loose wood lying about to make a fire hot enough to cook 

 your dinner, so that even if a fire were started land overran the ground it would find 

 only a few surface leaves dry enough to burn, and could do but little damage to the 

 timber; nor was there much danger of its spreading since there were no roads opened 

 up through the woods for the winds to enter and scatter about the burning leaves. 



If you would go there the following summer, after the removal of the timber, you 

 would find the forest canopy broken through almost everywhere, and the sun's rays 

 penetrating the forest floor of pine needles till they became as dry as tinder, so that 

 the first sparks reaching them would start a fire that might set the whole forest ablaze. 

 You would find in place of the old pine tree that under natural conditions had with- 

 stood the risk of fire and tempest for several centuries, and under like conditions 

 would do so till it died of old age, there was now left only a worthless stump, about 

 which were a lot of dry pine chips scattered broadcast in all directions over the forest 

 floor of dry pine needles, and these pine chips increasing in size and quantity close to 

 and around the stumps. Then from the stump is seen strewed along the ground for 

 hirty feet and upwards, according to the length of the stick of timber removed, four 

 rs of score blocks lying on the bed of dry pine needles, partially covered with dry 

 e chips, with more pine chips scattered about for a distance of from twenty to 

 .rty feet along both sides of these four rows of score blocks which were cast off the 

 the scorer's axe; while on top of chips and score blocks lie strewed along from 

 amp to the tree crown the hewings and shavings made by the hewer with his 

 xe. Here you would find the massive crown upheld from the ground by the 

 s lower limbs, with many of its limbs and branches broken off and thrown 

 the ground in all directions; and altogether limbs, branches and leaves 

 id dying m the rays of the summer sun; while out of its dying stem is seen 



tme gum exuding and dripping to the earth to catch the flame of any pass- 

 ing fare. 



And when it is known that dry white pine is one of the most easily ignited of all 



woods, and the most inflammable parts of this wood are the tops, limbs, 



and leaves all of which are left behind to furnish fuel as it were to aid in 



A .? -L h ? f reSt ' and a11 Plated with turpentine gum, and these 



ie dried pme blocks, chips and shavings lie scattered about, covering 



