12 THE COMMERCIAL HICKORIES. 



there will be an overrun of 40 per cent or even more. Sometimes 

 the Scribner rule is used, but even it is unsatisfactory and fails to 

 give the smaller sizes their just values. The greatest injustice 

 exists in the case of short bolts and logs under 10 inches in diameter. 

 Hickory butts under 10 inches in diameter are commonly sold by 

 the linear foot. In northern Ohio they bring 5 cents per linear foot, 

 regardless of diameter. In southern Ohio a sliding scale is commonly 

 used by which the number of cents paid per linear foot is 2 less than 

 the number of inches in the diameter of the log at the small end 

 inside the bark. This is better than taking no account of the diam- 

 eter, but it is far from correct. For example, a 10-inch log contains 

 nearly three times as much material as a 6-inch log, yet the price is 

 only twice as great; a 12-inch log contains four times as much mate- 

 rial as a 6-inch log, but the price is only two and a half times as much. 



Handle and spoke bolts are commonly sold by the cord ; but since 

 it is often inconvenient to pile the wood in order to measure it, 

 various other devices are resorted to. One common method is to 

 measure the diameters of the 30-inch bolts at the small end inside 

 the bark and add these diameters together until a total of 32 feet 

 is reached. This is called a cord. Two classes are generally 

 made bolts between 6 and 8 inches in diameter and those over 8 

 inches. Some difference is made in the price, but it is never enough. 

 In one place, for instance, the first class brought $5 per cord and 

 the second class $7; yet, even if the average diameter of the two 

 classes had been 7 and 9 inches, the ratio should have been 5 to 8. 

 As a matter of fact, the average diameter of the second class was 

 considerably over 9 inches, and the difference should, therefore, be 

 much greater. 



In some cases an estimate is made of the number of billets which 

 the bolts contain, and they are bought at so much per thousand. 



The result of present methods is that highest values are given to 

 small sizes on the one hand and to the largest on the other, while 

 the very sizes which are most to be desired and which in the future 

 should be most profitable, the logs and bolts from 9 to 15 inches in 

 diameter, are given the lowest values, sometimes by as much as 25 

 per cent or more. 



WASTE. 



The amount of merchantable hickory wasted each year may be 

 conservatively estimated at 40 per cent of the total cut. It con- 

 sists both of waste in the woods and waste at the mill. 



The greater waste is in the woods and is due chiefly to unneces- 

 sary restrictions against heartwood and birdpecked wood. Millions 

 of feet of good hickory are cut each year and left in the woods 

 because of the presence of a few birdpecks, or the large proportion 

 of heartwood make's it unprofitable to market it. Such waste is 



