220 



FORESTRY INVESTIGATIONS U. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 



Cost of haulage reduced by good wagon roadt. 

 [Price per load remaining constant at $,'!.0. Full load, before improvement, 85-100 cubic feet; after improvement, 175-250 cubic feet/ 



I ' 



Year. 



1871-1877, before road improvements . 



1878-1884 



1885-1891 



Cost of 



haulage 



per 100 



cubic feet. 



$1.52 



Saving per 100 cubic feet 



Saving on annual cut of 350,000 cubic feet . 



$0.72.00 

 2,520.00 



Price of wood influenced by road improvements. 

 [Comparison of prices paid at Golar and at other Harz districts.] 



Increase in price on total cut of 350,000 cubic feet $3, 25. r > 



Total profit from improved road system in reduced cost of logging and hauling, and in advance of price received for wood, per annum. 8, 225 



Or nearly :t3 per cent mi investment. 



Saving their cost in two years. 



Cost of road, macadamized in 1885, $6,960 ; maintenance for one year, $480 ; total, $7,440. During 1885-80 hauling 

 470,000 cubic feet requiring on old road 4,273 loads of 110 cubic feet average, at $3.60, $15,282.80 (or $2.70 per 1,000 

 feet 15. M. ) ; on improved road, 2,652 loads of 177 cubic feet average, at $3.60, $9,547.20 ( or $1.70 per 1,000 f. .t B. M. ), 

 saving of $1 for every 1,000 feet B. M. Total saving in haulage, $5,735.60, or 77 per cent on cost of road in one year. 



YIELD PER ACBE. 



Tlie amount of timber cut per acre is very large as compared with average yields in wild woods. 

 Of late the average yield has varied from about 5,500 cubic feet per acre in Prussia to 9,000 cubic 

 feet for the Saxon State forests. The yield has been steadily increasing since the beginning of 

 this century, and in most States it has been nearly doubled through better management. At that 

 earlier time much land was badly stocked or devoid of any cover, much timber was injured and 

 stunted by continual removal of the litter and consequent impoverishment of the soil, and in most 

 forests the young timber occupied much more than its share of ground, and thus less timber grew. 

 lu every one of the States and districts these conditions have been changed materially for the 

 better, the cut was increased from year to year, the wood capital or standing timber grew in total 

 amount, and the productive capacity of the forest soils has generally improved. The cut for any 

 given province or State is generally given as so much per acre of total area. Thus the cut for 

 Saxony is placed at 90 cubic feet per acre of total forest area, though, of course, the yield of those 

 tracts actually cut was about 9,000 cubic feet per acre cut. In the following table the figures 

 relating to the State forests are from recent official records, also those of the corporation forests 

 of Baden, Alsace-Lorraine, Bavaria, and parts of Wurttemberg, while the figures for private 

 forests and most of the corporation forests are estimates based on the experience of former years 

 and of only part of the provinces. 



