594 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



ing the brush-piling work in this way 

 are: 



(1) The brush is cleared at once for 

 the skidding of the logs. 



(2) The work is done more cheaply 

 than if the brush is piled by a separate 

 crew after the logging is completed ; be- 

 sides, the trimmers have to throw aside 

 the brush in any case to clear the way 

 for skidding. Piling after the logging 

 means a second handling of the brush, 

 and is an expensive operation on ac- 

 count of the inevitable difficulties of 

 picking up the branches from tangled 

 piles. 



(3) The men work more efficiently 

 and cheerfully when a part of a trim- 

 ming crew than when they do nothing 

 but pile brush. 



(4) Supervision is more effective and 

 less costly when the the brush is piled 

 with the logging than when it is a sep- 

 arate, later operation. 



There are circumstances where it is 

 impracticable to pile the brush until 

 after the logs are removed. 



Sometimes, when the logging is done 

 in the winter, it is impracticable to burn 

 brush at the time of logging, in the way 

 described in the previous section, or, on 

 account of the deep snow, to pile the 

 brush for later burning. In this event, 

 the piling is done in the spring, as soon 

 as the snow permits. 



In locating the piles it is necessary to 

 take into consideration the convenience 

 and cheapness in handling the brush, 

 the clearance of way for skidding the 

 logs, and the safety to standing trees 

 and young growth when the piles are 

 burned. Ordinarily, they are placed at 

 least fifteen feet away from any trees 

 or groups of young trees that may be 

 injured. In forests like spruce, which 

 have a great amount of branches, and 

 where the trees stand so close that the 

 piles cannot be placed at this safe dis- 

 tance, the brush is either piled and not 

 burned, or is thoroughly lopped and left 

 scattered evenly over the ground. 

 When the brush is piled after the log- 

 ging, the piles are located in the log- 

 ging roads, skidding trails, and on spots 

 where skidways were located. 



The brush piles should be small and 

 compact. (PI. VI.) As a rule, they 

 should not be over ten feet across or 

 over six feet high. The very small 

 branches are put in the bottom of the 

 pile, with successively larger material 

 laid on afterward. The tops of the 

 branches are placed toward the center 

 of the pile. Trimmed sticks may be 

 leaned against the pile to hold it in shape, 

 keep it from blowing over, and render 

 it more compact for burning. Wind- 

 rows and large piles make control of 

 burning difficult, and are likely to make 

 such a large fire that the crowns of trees 

 are scorched and injured. Where the 

 stand is clear-cut, however, large piles 

 and even windrows may sometimes be 

 used. 



When the piles are loosely thrown 

 together complete burning is very diffi- 

 cult and often impossible. To secure 

 "clean burning" (so called), it is neces- 

 sary to rebuild open and loose piles. 

 This is called "chunking up" the piles. 

 It is very expensive, for it costs as 

 much as the first piling. 



Brush should not be thrown on a top, 

 at least until all branches are trimmed 

 off. Ordinarily, they should be piled 

 away from the top piece of the stem. 



In some instances in the national for- 

 ests the practice has been to stake the 

 piles. Sticks are driven into the ground 

 six or eight feet apart and the limbs 

 are ranked lengthwise between them. 

 (PI. IV.) The advantage of this method 

 is that it insures thoroughness of work 

 and a compact pile. It has been proved 

 that it costs much less to burn a staked 

 pile than the ordinary irregular pile, and 

 the area of ground burned over is con- 

 siderably less. This method has been 

 found of especial value when the brush 

 piling has followed the logging. The 

 foreman of the piling crew selects the 

 locations for the piles, drives the stakes, 

 and supervises the work. Organized in 

 this way, the work is done rapidly. Any 

 extra expense of the staking is more 

 than offset by saving in the cost of 

 burning. 



The cost of piling brush necessarily 

 varies under different conditions. The 

 first work undertaken in this country 



