36 Forest Club Annual 



This stand of trees has been cut over a number of times. In 

 1857 there was a fairly good growth which the settlers cut for 

 building material and firewood. A few trees were left and these 

 reseeded the area. In 1874 the stand had reached the size of hop 

 poles, and was cut over again. It was at this time that the 

 present growth started. The older trees left for seed trees are 

 easily distinguished by their size, and deeply furrowed bark. 

 One of these trees measuring 38 inches in diameter was found to 

 be seventy-three years old. This tree showed very plainly that 

 its rate of growth both in diameter and height decreased rapidly 

 after it had reached the age of about forty years. The marked 

 decrease indicates that it is advisable to manage cottonwood 

 on a rotation of thirty to forty years. In two rotations of 

 forty years each more wood would be produced than in a single 

 rotation of eighty years. Furthermore the logs from the younger 

 trees are much less liable to check than those from older trees 

 and the trees themselves are not so much affected by butt rot. 



In removing the timber from this tract a distinct system of 

 management is used. The owner gets two-fifths of the lumber 

 cut. He has turned over the entire supervision of the work to 

 a manager, who takes one-fifth of the lumber besides three-fifths 

 of the slabs, all the sawdust, and all the cord-wood for his pay. 

 He has to pay for the cutting of the trees. The manager sub-lets 

 the sawing to the sawyer who owns the mill. He saws up the 

 logs and furnishes a man and team to do the skidding. He 

 receives as his share two-fifths of the lumber cut and two-fifths 

 of the slabs as fuel for his engine. As the logs are brought to 

 the mill they are scaled. The first two thousand feet sawed 

 goes to the sawyer who cuts the log into any sizes of lumber he 

 wishes. The next three thousand is cut for the owner and the 

 manager. In this case the latter marks on the end of each log 

 what he wants it cut into. He markets the three thousand and 

 settles with the owner in cash. 



The logs are cut into all lengths from three to sixteen feet. 

 No tree is cut unless it will square eight inches at the stump. If 

 the cutters strike a tree that is defective at the stump they are 

 required to cut higher up in the tree until they strike a place 

 where the wood is all sound. They cut up as high into the tree 

 as they are able to get a log that will square eight inches. If 

 in felling the cutters split a tree they are held accountable for 

 the wood lost because of the split. Two different parties have 

 done the cutting, one used the saw and the other the axe for 

 felling the trees. 



This cutting was done during the warm weather the first two 

 weeks of February. The latter part of the month there was a 



