LOGGING IN THE DOUGLAS FIB REGION. 47 



COST. 



The cost of felling and bucking in the region ranges from $0.45 

 to $1 per thousand feet, averaging about $0.65. Cost data dealing 

 with 40 large camps indicate that the average costs per thousand 

 feet by districts are as follows : 



Puget Sound $0. 68 



Grays Harbor . 62 



Willapa Harbor . 62 



Columbia River .70 



FACTOES INFLUENCING THE COST. 



Considering how much the cost of felling and bucking varies in 

 different camps, to estimate it in a given case is no simple matter. 

 Furthermore, it varies in the same camp at different times. At one 

 camp it decreased steadily from $1.10 to $0.50 per thousand feet in 

 five years, presumably because of increasing efficiency in the man- 

 agement; at another, it increased more or less steadily from $0.55 

 to $0.82 per thousand feet, largely because of the changing character 

 of the show. 



In a general way the following factors influence the cost of felling 

 and bucking: 



(1) Efficiency of labor and management. 



(2) Scale of wages. 



(3) Weather conditions. There is no doubt that the output of 

 fallers and buckers varies with the weather and the length of the 

 working day as fixed by light conditions. In timber appraisal not 

 much weight need be given this factor. In collecting cost data 

 and in making studies to arrive at standards to be used with bonus 

 systems or systems for checking up the daily output of the workers 

 considerable weight should be given it where the studies cover a 

 relatively short period of time. 



(4) The size of timber. It would seem, other factors being 

 excluded, that the output of a set of fallers and buckers should, 

 within certain limits, increase with the size of timber, both in height 

 and diameter. Obviously, the output will be larger where the 

 timber is relatively tall than where the opposite is the case. Then, 

 too, the diameter seems to affect the output, fallers feeling that they 

 secure the best results in timber that runs from 30 to 40 inches in 

 diameter at breast height. If the factors of breakage and defect 

 could be eliminated, they would probably do their best work in 

 slightly larger timber. 



(5) The percentage of breakage, the density of the stand, and the 

 species of timber. Of these three factors, breakage is by far the most 

 important. It is obvious that the output will be less where the per- 

 centage of breakage amounts to 40 per cent than where it amounts to 



