CHAPTER VI 

 INVESTMENTS AND COSTS IN FOREST PRODUCTION 



90. The Business of Forest Production versus Lumbering. 



Lumbering is a term applied to that portion of the business 

 of forest utilization which begins with the removal of the forest 

 products from the soil and is completed when the wood is 

 placed upon the market as lumber, ties, shingles or other products. 

 The stage dealing with the felling and transportation of the raw 

 product to place of manufacture is termed "logging," while the 

 manufacture itself is spoken of as "milling." 



Forest production is a separate undertaking, which precedes 

 lumbering, and deals entirely with the growing of forest crops, 

 principally wood products. Until recently, the raw material 

 on which the enormous investments in logging and milling are 

 dependent, was drawn entirely from virgin stands grown with- 

 out human aid or expense. Ultimately, forest production must 

 rank in importance with lumbering, for under modern condi- 

 tions, forests will seldom renew themselves unaided. The only 

 large and complete organization of forest production as a business 

 in this country at present is found in the administration of the 

 national forests. The operations of certain states are gradually 

 taking on a systematic form. But, as a whole, the productive 

 side in the management of private timberlands has not yet 

 been organized into a systematic effort, and takes the form of 

 tentative or experimental measures, completely overshadowed 

 by the operations of lumbering. 



Logging and milling are indispensable adjuncts to production, 

 but without it they are self-destructive. These three operations 

 complete the chain of effort by which the income from forestry 

 is finally secured. Owners of large tracts of timber usually 

 undertake to log them in order to produce income from their 

 holdings, and professional lumbermen prefer to own their stump- 



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