LOGGING IN THE DOUGLAS FIR REGION. 19 



the Service makes special check scales by the best men in its or- 

 ganization. 



LOG SCALE THE BASIS IN LOGGING COST CALCULATIONS, 



Loggers and lumber manufacturers uniformly think of logging 

 costs in connection with the 1,000-foot unit. Loggers invariably 

 prorate the logging costs on the basis of the log scale. Lumber 

 manufacturers do not adhere to a uniform practice, sometimes pro- 

 rating the logging costs on the mill tally, sometimes on both the 

 mill tally and log scale. These two standards seldom agree, and 

 it is necessary in a given case to know what standard has been used 

 if one would avoid confusion. The product of the mill ordinarily 

 overruns the log scale from 4 to 30 per cent, depending on the size, 

 taper, and soundness of the timber, the thickness of the saws and 

 other matters of mill equipment, the exact dimensions to which 

 lumber is sawed, the class of material manufactured, and the loss 

 in finishing and seasoning. 



In this bulletin logging costs are uniformly based on the 1,000- 

 foot log-scale unit unless an exception is noted. Logging-cost state- 

 ments are based on the selling scale and not on a camp or Forest 

 Service scale. 



COST. 



The bulk of the logs sold in the log markets of the Columbia 

 River and Puget Sound regions are scaled by two log scaling and 

 grading bureaus, corporations owned by independent loggers. In 

 the Grays Harbor and Willapa Harbor regions scaling is done by 

 independent scalers and costs about 5 cents per thousand feet. 



Most logging operators who keep detailed cost accounts find it 

 necessary to employ a camp scaler. A camp scaler is necessary in 

 connection with practically all forms of bonus systems. Some camps 

 get along without a camp scaler, keeping track of the output of the 

 camp or the several units of production through a log or car count. 

 A camp scale is not ordinarily considered as accurate as a selling 

 scale. The camp scalers are paid from $75 to $125 per month. 



Scaling in national forest timber sales is done by men regularly 

 employed and paid by the Forest Service, which makes it possible 

 for purchasers of national forest timber to get along without camp 

 scalers. Purchasers who sell in the log markets, however, have to 

 pay for a selling scale, as the Forest Service scale is not accepted by 

 lumber manufacturers. 



GEADING ETJLES. 



As a general thing logs are sold by grades and species, so that it 

 is desirable in most cases to sort the logs in rafting, each raft being 



