652 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



Cut-over beech forests at Vallombt 

 vood, tops and brush are stacked 



fuel wood 

 replanted at 



d charcoal. After 

 once to silver fii 



logs consisted of an aver- 

 age of about one cubic 

 meter or about 424 board 

 feet of lumber. The oxen 

 cost about $200 per pair 

 prior to the war, whereas 

 during 1 918 a pair brought 

 from $1500 to $2000. 



When the operation was 

 running to full capacity, 60 

 men were employed in the 

 woods. Altogether, includ- 

 ing those employed in trans- 

 porting the logs there were 

 220. These men received 

 from . $2.00 to $2.40 per 

 day, and worked 12 hours. 

 All woods work was done 

 by contract, and when the 

 labor supply became short, 

 military labor was supplied 

 in some cases by the army. 

 The full woods corps of 

 220 men produced an aver- 

 age of 80 cubic meters of 

 saw logs and fire-wood in one day. All fir logs up to a 

 size that would make an 18x18 centimeter beam were 

 hewn by hand in the woods. Logs from 20 to 23 centi- 

 meters in diameter at the top end were required for this 

 purpose, and only silver fir was hewn. All hewn beams 

 had waney edges. 



The old sawmill was one of the most interesting fea- 

 tures of the forest and it was indeed a busy place during 

 war time. It was originally placed here by the Benedictine 

 monks about 200 years or 

 more ago, and until recent 

 times was operated entirely 

 by a water wheel. This 

 mill had a normal capacity 

 of about 16,000 to 21,000 

 board feet per day of ten 

 hours. However, when 

 beech was sawed only 

 about 10,000 to 12,000 

 board feet were cut per 

 day. During the war, the 

 mill ran in two shifts, but 

 frequently on account of 

 the scarcity of labor and 

 the consequent lack of logs 

 only one shift was used. 



The mill was built en- 

 tirely of stone, and instead 

 of the conventional log 

 pond so familiar on our 

 larger operations in this 

 country, a small truck was 

 loaded in the log yard and 

 moved by hand into the 

 mill. The latter was equip- 



CLEARED AFTER CUTTING 



After the logs are removed, limb 

 up and after seasoning are used for 



the stumps are removed, the area 



STAKES FOR WIRE ENTANGLEMENTS 



Some of the 20,000.000 stakes required annually for barbed wire en- 

 tanglements at the front during the war. The stakes were collected 

 from points in the Italian forests throughout the peninsula. These 

 stakes were cut from the forests of Vallombrosa and consist of beech, 

 silver fir, pine and chestnut. 



ped with two gang saws, 

 one of German and the 

 other of Swiss manufac- 

 ture. The former had 

 fifteen saws in the gang 

 frame and the latter twelve 

 saws. The German saw 

 made 190 strokes per min- 

 ute while the Swiss saw 

 made 200 per . minute. 

 There were also two circu- 

 lar saws running 1,900 

 revolutions per minute for 

 edging and trimming. The 

 kerf of the Kirchner saw 

 was only two and one-half 

 millimeters or about three- 

 sixteenths inch, which is 

 far less than saws used in 

 this country, consequently 

 the waste was not so much. 

 The sawmill manager esti- 

 mated that 30 per cent of 

 the logs which came to the 

 mill were made up of 

 waste, including sawdust, slabs, edging, bark, etc. How- 

 ever, in contrast to conditions in this country, none of 

 this was allowed to go to waste. The sawdust was burned 

 as fuel, or made up into briquets, and sold in the neigh- 

 boring communities. The slabs, trimmings and other 

 edging wer. converted into charcoal in the sawmill yard, 

 while the smaller edging, bark, etc., were used for fuel 

 purposes. About 20 men and 20 women were employed 

 in the mill and in the mill yard. The sawyers received 



$1.60 per day, the other 

 men $1.30 and the women 

 70 cents per day. The 

 working hours were from 

 7 to 12 in the morning and 

 from 1.30 to 6.30 in the 

 afternoon. The women 

 were served with lunch in 

 addition to their pay by the 

 officials. During the win- 

 ter time, the water-turbine 

 was resorted to entirely 

 whereas during the sum- 

 mer, owing to the lack of 

 sufficient water flow, elec- 

 tric power from Pontas- 

 sieve in the Arno Valley 

 was used. A sixty horse- 

 power motor was used for 

 the latter purpose. Silver 

 fir normally was seasoned 

 for about 8 to 10 months 

 before shipment, whereas 

 during the war no regular 

 seasoning was done as the 

 demand for lumber was so 



