CONSERVATIVE LUMBERING. 



53 



PI. XVII.) These flumes are sometimes over 40 miles 

 in length, and cost almost as much to build as a rail- 

 road. Many sawmills have connected with them plan- 

 ing mills or woodworking factories of other kinds, so 

 that the rough lumber from their saws is changed into 

 the form of a finished product before it reaches the 

 market. 



WASTE IX LUMBERING. 



This is very briefly the way in which a tree gets into 

 the market at the end of its life. At every step there 

 is some waste. Although it may be sound throughout, 

 the lumbermen in the woods can take but a portion of 

 it, often leaving a part 

 of the trunk and all of 

 the top to rot on the 

 ground. When each 

 log comes to the saw 

 there is a further loss 

 of nearly all the slabs 

 and edgings and all the 

 sawdust that is not 

 used for fuel. On the 

 average it is doubtful 

 whether more than half 

 of the cubic contents 

 of a standing tree is 

 finally used. As prices rise and as conservative lum- 

 bering comes to be generally practiced, the greater 

 part of this enormous loss will be avoided, but it can 

 probably never cease altogether. 



I I Boards c - '--- 



Fi<;. 37. Diagram to show the 

 of a log. 



