﻿38 BULLETIN 24, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AUBICULTURE. 



a time when the water is up. Stumps are sometimes from 8 to 16 

 feet high. Wherever practicable no stumps should be left higher 

 than 30 inches unless the butts are defective. 



More material is wasted in tops. Small logs should not be left in 

 the woods if they can be handled profitably. Such logs saw out little 

 above the grade of Xo. 2 common, which usually sells f. o. b. at the 

 mill for from $12 to $15 per thousand. On expensive logging opera- 

 tions the actual cost of delivering these logs at the mill and sawing 

 them may so nearly approximate this price as to allow no profit. 

 Most of the mills sawing cottonwood are now taking logs as small as 

 14 inches and under favorable logging conditions many concerns can 

 utilize straight top logs comparatively free of knots as small as 12 

 inches at the top. Most of the mills sawing cottonwood which have 

 a daily capacity of over 50,000 board feet are located in the larger 

 towns along the riyer or at the edge of bottom lands, necessitating a 

 long haul. Small portable mills located on the tract can often utilize 

 with profit logs as small as 10. inches in diameter at the top. Although 

 only one mill of this type was observed in the lower Mississippi Val- 

 ley, it is probable that in the future the small mill may make possible 

 a closer utilization of cottonwood. In the northern part of the valley 

 mills frequently utilize to advantage logs even smaller. 



Much of the present waste in leaving top logs is due, in part, to the 

 improper marking of log lengths. Moreover, where logging is done 

 by contract, a common method in the lower valley, the contractor 

 leaves much small-sized timber in the woods, as by handling only the 

 larger logs he reduces the cost of getting the logs to the river. The 

 contracts should plainly specify that all trees above 16 inches diameter 

 breasthigh that will cut one or more merchantable logs shall be taken 

 unless designated for seed trees. Tops should be utilized to 12 inches 

 where straight and free from branches, or to 14 inches where they 

 contain no more than four or five small branches not over 4 inches in 

 diameter. 



To increase the percentage of cottonwood in future stands and 

 gradually eliminate the less valuable species, the latter should be cut 

 whenever possible, even without profit. Actual loss may at times be 

 justified, since it may be considered an investment in restocking the 

 area to cottonwood. As a rule, however, the removal of these " weed 

 trees ?1 will be warranted only where their utilization is possible. For 

 this purpose the erection of cooperage plants on or near logging oper- 

 ations would materially simplify the problem. Such plants could 

 utilize at a profit the larger elm, maple, hackberry, sycamore, and box- 

 elder, as well as much of the cottonwood and gum too small for saw 

 timber. Otherwise, deadening these trees would be the only means 

 of clearing the ground for reproduction. The plants could also utilize 

 a good proportion of the lumber which would ordinarily be left in the 



