1905 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



473 



but the damage is often much in ex- 

 cess of what is necessary. There are 

 often, however, many more snakeways, 

 or skidways, than are necessary, and 

 the application of a little system in 

 laying them out would save time and 

 young growth on a lumber job. On 

 the higher and steeper slopes it is often 

 the habit and one which cannot be 

 criticized too strongly, except in those 

 rare cases where it is absolutely nec- 

 essary on account of the gradient -to 



example, of leaving to rot the "dead- 

 ened" trees which stand over clearings. 

 There are cases in which these clear- 

 ings have been inclosed with fences 

 built of rails split from prime black 

 walnut, with no other excuse than that 

 the walnut happened to be within eas- 

 ier reach than either oak or pine. 



Under such methods, in which there 

 is not only an absolute lack of pro- 

 vision for a future crop, but often a 

 marked absence of that forethought, 



Waste in Sawing at a Small Mill in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. 



roll the logs from top to bottom, mere- 

 ly starting them with the canthook. A 

 i6-foot log, 3 feet or more in diameter, 

 can gain momentum enough in this 

 way to smash even fair-sized trees in 

 its path, and when it passes through 

 dense young growth it leaves a track 

 like that of a miniature tornado. The 

 practice is in line with others to be 

 observed in the Southern Appala- 

 chians, such as the common habit, for 



skill, and aversion to waste which go 

 to make clean lumbering, most of the 

 logged-over areas in the Southern Ap- 

 palachians are only saved from entire 

 destruction of the standing trees by 

 the generally scattered distribution of 

 the merchantable timber. 



In the application of conservative 

 forest management to that portion of 

 the forests of the Southern Appala- 

 chians included within the proposed 



