96 PRACTICAL FORESTRY IN 



yellow pine in the Southwest, brush piling costs from 45 to 

 50 cents, while in Montana it can be done for 25 cents. One 

 operator in lodgepole in Montana says it is cheaper for him to 

 pile than not to, because he can get his skidding done so much 

 cheaper, yet on other operations it has cost from 50 cents to 

 $1 a thousand, depending on how thoroughly it is cleaned up. 

 In the sugar pine type of California the cost of piling averages 

 from 25 to 35 cents, while the cost in the Douglas fir type, in 

 Montana and Idaho, averages about 40 cents, and in Engel- 

 mann spruce type the cost is only about 25 cents a thousand. 

 It is certain, however, that the cost of piling will everywhere 

 be materially reduced when the operators begin to look on 

 piling as part of the swampers' regular work and not as an 

 entirely separate job. 



"Dry brush should never be burned during the dry season, 

 unless absolutely necessary for the suppression of an insect 

 invasion. Green brush in some places may be burned at any 

 time, but as a rule it is unsafe to burn it in dry weather. 

 The best time to burn brush is in the fall, just after the first 

 snowfall. Then the piles are dry, and there is no danger that 

 the fire will get beyond control. Brush may also be burned 

 at the beginning of or during the rainy season, when the 

 ground is damp enough to prevent the fire from spreading, 

 and the brush dry enough to burn readily. 



'The cost of brush burning varies like the cost of piling. 

 It varies even more in the same localities, with weather con- 

 ditions and methods of piling. Brush that can be burned for 

 10 or 15 cents a thousand at a favorable time, as just after 

 the first snow, will cost five or ten times as much to burn in 

 dry weather, or when the piles are very wet. Brush can be 

 burned more easily the first fall after cutting than it can the 

 second year, when many of the leaves have fallen off. Brush 

 burning has been done for 13 cents a thousand in lodgepole, 

 in the Medicine Bow National Forest, while it has cost 22 

 cents in similar timber in the Yellowstone, and estimates of 

 40 cents a thousand have been made for it in the Rockies. 

 It is generally admitted that brush can be most economically 



