FIFTH NATIONAL CONSERVATION CONGRESS 313 



there is great danger of food contamination. It is also unpleasant when the 

 wind blows from the stables toward the camp dwellings. 



The practice of building board barns and establishing a permanent camp 

 for several years does not appear as efficient as either moving at frequent 

 intervals and thus keeping camp near the work, or moving the stables at frequent 

 intervals to the vicinity of the logging work. The latter practice is possible 

 if portable barns are used. 



There are many advantages from the standpoint of efficiency in keeping the 

 animals near the actual logging work. A minimum of time is consumed in 

 traveling to and from the stable; the energy of the animal is not taxed in 

 going and returning from work, and the stables and corral grounds do not become 

 foul in wet weather as they often do where the barns and lots are more 

 permanent. 



Where car barns are used the barn men live in the vicinity of the stable, 

 while the workmen are hauled back and forth from camp on a log train. At one 

 camp, the blacksmith shop has been mounted on car tracks and forms a part 

 of the general barn equipment. 



The problem of housing employees on the coast does not always present the 

 same kind of difficulties that are found in the South, since it is less common 

 to find families residing in the logging camps. The water supply available from 

 streams is usually more pure and there is a better chance to secure drainage 

 from the camps without contaminating the water supply. Nevertheless, it is 

 essential to enforce rigid sanitary rules in order to preserve the health of the 

 men. 



It is believed that in every section of the country loggers would profit by a 

 study of the hygienic and sanitary features best adapted to logging camps, and 

 that the adoption of up-to-date methods would increase the efficiency and well- 

 being of the laborers. 



Boarding Department. — In every section of the country loggers, as a rule, 

 now provide excellent food for their workmen, since otherwise laborers can not 

 be secured or retained. 



When workmen provide their own board, as in many southern camps, there 

 are numerous instances where the men are not properly nourished, due to an 

 inadequate knowledge of food values and methods of preparing food. The food 

 stuffs purchased are often of excellent quality, but are ruined in the preparation. 

 Man, as well as beast, needs a balanced ration, and woods workers in a warm 

 climate who are fed an excess of fats and half-baked biscuits, can never perform 

 as much work as if they had well nourished bodies. One step forward in 

 efficiency can be made by the introduction of cooking lessons in camps and the 

 training of the female members of the community in the preparation of more 

 nourishing and muscle-building food. This method has been tried in certain 

 camps in the South with success. 



In camps where board is provided by the operator there are certain econ- 

 omies which can be effected. While the same cook may be employed for a 

 period of several years in one camp or under a given foreman, it is more com- 



