l68 FORESTRY IN NEW ENGLAND 



quired thereby are of great value. Without these there is a 

 large chance of failure. The inexperienced man may well prefer 

 to pay a lumberman a commission on an operation, which he 

 practically does when he sells the stumpage, instead of acting 

 as his own lumberman. In determining the value of stumpage 

 it is necessary to make a distinction between the price which the 

 owner could get for it if he sold to a lumberman or jobber, and 

 what he could reahze if he acted as his own jobber. If successful 

 in the latter capacity he would have the additional profit which 

 the lumberman would expect to make by the operation. 



In most communities there are men who make a business in 

 winter of hauling logs and wood. They will take a contract to 

 haul the given distance at a certain price per thousand feet or 

 per cord. The prices charged are usually based on a fair day's 

 wage for men and teams, and this, of course, varies in different 

 sections. The margin for profit is so small that unless the land- 

 owner has plenty of men and teams this contract method will be 

 cheaper for him. For a six-mile haul in northern Vermont the 

 price is usually about $3 per thousand, or from $1.50 to $2.00 a 

 cord. For short hauls, where two trips a day can be made, the 

 cost will be about half these figures. By deducting the cost of 

 haul from the price to be received at the mill, the value of the 

 felled timber is obtained. If it is to be transported by railroad 

 or river, the further charges for such freightage must be added. 

 In southern New England most of the lumbering is done with 

 portable sawmills. In this case the price paid for logs at the mill 

 is less because the manufactured lumber has to be transported 

 to the railway or market. 



To obtain the value of standing timber, a further deduction for 

 the cost of cutting and logging is necessary. It usually costs 

 about $1.25 per thousand board feet for cutting the trees. 

 Logging ^ in the north woods, where the logs are piled on skids 

 near the cutting, is cheap — usually not over Si. 50 per M- — 



1 Logging as here used refers to the operation of removing the log from the 

 place where the tree grew to the skidway or portable mill; it does not include 

 cutting or hauHng from the skidway to the permanent mill or railroad. 



2 M stands for thousand feet, board measure. 



