6 BULLETIN 604, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



as a post timber. Few species are prized more highly for this purpose. 

 Since the days of the earliest settlers it has been the chief source of 

 fence posts and rails throughout the mountains and foothills of 

 California. 



Posts and rails for the most part are split, the trees first being felled 

 and bucked into the desired lengths. Although in a few cases* cedar 

 has been sawed into 1 by 4s or 1 by 5s for this purpose, split posts 

 generally are considered more satisfactory. In good timber two men 

 working together can split out 200 or more posts a day, thus making 

 good wages at from 5 to 6 cents a post, the usual price paid for this 

 work. 



In making posts usually the heartwood only is utilized, the sap- 

 wood not being durable. Post makers prefer dead and charred cedar 

 logs and snags where the sap wood has rotted and been burned away, 

 leaving thoroughly seasoned heartwood. Such material is usually 

 sound, for if dry-rot had been present in any considerable quantity 

 the entire log would have burned. 



It is estimated that at least 230,000 incense cedar fence posts are 

 used annually. Accurate figures, however, are not obtainable, since 

 their use is for the most part local and they are cut in small lots, often 

 by the men who use them. On the National Forests cedar posts form 

 an important item of the free-use business, most of the local ranchers 

 obtaining their supply in this way. In some regions it is an annual 

 custom for those located in the foothills to go into the mountains for 

 a week or two each fall for the purpose of cutting and hauling their 

 year's supply of posts- and rails. 



The stumpage value of post material varies from 2 to 6 cents per 

 post, according to its accessibility and abundance, dead cedar usually 

 bringing about 1 cent less than green, although it is the more desirable 

 of the two. Throughout the Sierras the price ranges from 2 to -4 

 cents, except on the Nevada slope, where it is somewhat higher 

 because of its scarcity. The prices at which posts are sold, ranging 

 from 10 to 35 cents, are given in Table 3. This variation, however, 

 is due largely to differences in the cost of transportation to the vari- 

 ous market points rather than to differences in the cost of stumpage 

 or manufacture. In the local markets, which consume most of the 

 supply, from 16 to 18 cents is the usual price. 



Table 6, based on somewhat limited data, indicates roughly the 

 yield in posts for trees of various diameters. There is, however, such 

 a great variation in the relative width of the sap, the ease of working, 

 and the waste due to rot and knots, that at best a table of this char- 

 acter is only approximate. 



