PROTECTION OF FORESTS FROM FIRE 251 



Thus, for example, the cost of destroying the brush 

 produced in logging a stand of large hemlock would be 

 greater per thousand feet of merchantable timber secured 

 than in logging an equal amount in a small-crowned spe- 

 cies like red pine. If the trees have a large volume, and 

 the stand is heavy, the cost of disposing of their tops is 

 less than it would be on an equal area for a sparse stand 

 of trees that yielded only a small amount of merchantable 

 timber per tree. 



The cost and efficiency of labor must, of course, enter 

 into the cost of piling or burning brush, as it does in any 

 other logging operation. If the men know just how to 

 perform the work to the best advantage, and are indus- 

 trious and energetic, the cost of piling the brush is much 

 less than otherwise. In many cases the high cost of brush 

 disposal has been simply due to the fact that the men 

 who were doing the work were inefficient, unwilling, or 

 unskilled. Still another factor influencing cost is the 

 ease of the work as influenced by the density and amount 

 of small growth and the irregularities of the ground. 



The Forest Service, working in forests in the Lake 

 States composed of mixed red and white pine, has dis- 

 posed of brush in the manner described at a cost of 12 

 cents per thousand board feet. 



Piling and Burning Brush in Separate Opera- 

 tions. Where the logging is done during the dry season, 

 the brush is piled wherever convenient, but the burning 

 of the piles is deferred until a favorable time, such as 

 during damp weather or after the first snow-fall. 



