THE SOUTHEEN CYPEESS. 15 



COST OF MANUFACTURE. 



The investment required in the manufacture of cypress lumber is 

 considerably higher than for most kinds of timber. The essential 

 factor is the high initial cost of logs delivered at the mill. Briefly, 

 the high expense of manufacture is due to : 



(1) The costliness of the equipment required for logging. 



(2) Cypress is mostly cut into 1-inch lumber, and very little goes 

 into dimension stock, as is the case with the southern pines. 



(3) The stock is usually held from 8 months to a year, and some- 

 times for 2 years, in order to permit of thorough air-seasoning. This 

 entails large holding charges. 



On the other hand, cypress forests are in the lowest situations, 

 affording water transportation in many cases for logging and in some 

 cases for shipping lumber. Float logging, the method of the earlier 

 days, was relatively cheap. In Louisiana the timber lies so far from 

 the water fronts and places where artificial canals are practicable 

 that pull-boat logging is said now to average from $1 to $3 more per 

 1,000 board feet than overhead-cableway skidding and swamp 

 railroads. The fire danger, with the necessity of clearing rights of 

 way and of slash disposal, is eliminated in cypress logging. 



Logging railroads are built on piling over swamps at costs ranging 

 from $9,000 to $12,000 per mile, and sometimes $15,000 for main 

 lines. Temporary logging spurs on mud piles, cribbing, or sawdust 

 beds cost from $1,000 to $2,000 per mile. The usual equipment con- 

 sists of locomotives and cars, in addition to the combined skidders 

 and loaders for getting the logs from the stump to the car. The 

 climax of logging machinery, the 135-ton duplex spar skidder in use 

 on the Santee River, S. C, and perhaps elsewhere, costs approxi- 

 mately $28,000 set up and ready for operation. Water log- 

 ging by steam requires heavy dredge boats for digging canals, pull 

 boats equipped with skidding engines and tons of steel cable, and tow- 

 boats for getting the logs to the mill. Frequently logging is done by a 

 combination of both methods. In order to avoid undesirable shut- 

 downs, the logging capacity of cypress plants is large in relation to 

 the mill capacity. 



The cost of manufacturing cypress is subject to very wide variation, 

 duo mainly to the different conditions in logging and the varying 

 soundness of the, timber. In tho older supply regions costs often run 

 nearJy double those in the more virgin districts. The figures below 

 will indicate tho general range of cost in comploto manufacture : 



Cost per 1,000 

 Logging: board foet. 



riinllin^ (\,nc.e per tree, 8 to 12 cente) $0. 15 to $0. 20 



Cutting (paid \>y llio tree or I,Iiow:-;:hi<I hoard fool,) .00 .80 



Skidding and loading 1.95 2.00 



