340 



FORESTS 



FORESTS 



Roads should be made with soi"e care because 

 nearly all young stuff is killed by driving over it 

 a few times, and new growth does not come in for 

 many years. Frequently a little drainage of wet 

 places will prove very profitable. 



The details of handling team, chain, sleighs and 

 trucks can best be learned by experience. 



Marketing timber crops. 



The marketing of timber crops differs from that 

 of any other farm product in several particulars. 

 Meats are sold by the pound, eggs by the dozen, coal 

 by the ton, grain by measure or weight, each hav- 

 ing its standard of denomination. Timber crops are 

 sold by the tree, acre, thousand-feet board measure, 

 cubic foot, pound and even by the sack. The stand- 

 ard cord is 128 cubic feet, or a pile 8x4x4 feet; 



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Fig. 486. An improvement thinning in planted white pine. The white 

 pines were planted in mixture with ash and box-elder, and a partial 

 harvesting of the crop has taken place in which box-elder, ash and 

 poorer pines have been removed. The open areas are being filled 

 by under-plantings of white pine and hard maple as seen in fore- 

 ground. 



but in different localities the cord varies according 

 to the uniform length of pieces composing it. Logs 

 that will scale a thousand feet will generally make 

 a little more than a standard cord of wood. 



A timber crop is an accumulation of annual 

 growths, the nature of the plant making it impos- 

 sible to market the annual growth each year. If the 

 market conditions are not right one year, the crop 

 may wait for even a score or more of years, or until 

 such time as seems most favorable. The market 

 for the crop has its ups and downs, but not nearly 

 to the same extent as that of a perishable crop. 

 The time and method of marketing will vary with 

 the character of the crop itself, which varies in 

 volume from the small willow whips only two feet 

 in length, to thei massive sequoias, the greatest of 

 nature's organized products. 



It is to the interest of the purchasing agent to 

 buy lumber at the lowest possible price, for a thing 

 well bought is half sold. He therefore tries to per- 

 suade the owner that his timber is not growing 

 very fast, that some trees show evidence of decay 



and death, and that substitutes are on the increase, 

 all of which may- be true enough and yet not be 

 sufficient reasons for making immediate sale. The 

 growing rate of timber can be determined as well 

 by the owner as by the purchaser. The area of the 

 stump of a tree in square feet multiplied by one- 

 half the height gives the approximate number of 

 cubic feet in the tree. If, now, the thickness of the 

 ten outer rings be determined, and the diameter be 

 reduced by double this amount, we can estimate 

 the volume of the tree ten years ago. Since the 

 height of nearly or quite mature stands varies but 

 little, the same height-factor may be repeatedly 

 used. About eighty-five of the cubic feet thus de- 

 termined, when cut, will make a standard cord of 

 wood and other lengths in proportion. The increase 

 in volume of saw timber can best be determined by 

 cutting some of the most typical average 

 trees into logs, and with Scribner's, Doyle's, 

 Bauman's, or some other log book in hand, 

 figure the board feet at present, and then 

 by reducing the diameter by double the 

 thickness of the ten outer rings it will give 

 the board feet ten years before. The Wood- 

 man's Handbook, Part I, Bulletin No. 36, 

 Forest Service of the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, contains over forty 

 log rules, besides much other information 

 valuable to the man who handles timber. 



It may be expected that under proper 

 encouragement the more valuable trees in a 

 stand may be made to increase more rap- 

 idly than under unmanaged or mismanaged 

 conditions. While the rings of one decade 

 may measure less than those of a past de- 

 cade, the lumber in the larger tree is more 

 valuable. Since different kinds of timber 

 vary in rapidity of growth, the determina- 

 tion of one species will not answer for all. 

 Forestry can be practiced in an almost 

 ideal way on the farm woodlot of five to 

 fifty acres. Unless the quantity to be dis- 

 posed of at one time is very small, one 

 should know where the best markets are, the same 

 as he would for other farm products. There are 

 several publications devoted entirely to the lumber 

 business. All large cities are great lumber mar- 

 kets. Chicago is a great pine market and St. Louis 

 leads in hard-woods. It is quite possible for the 

 forest owner to post himself on prices and pros- 

 pects of market and crops by reading quotations 

 and by correspondence with dealers. If he has a 

 good article, it will sell almost any day. If one firm 

 does not handle the goods he has to dispose of, it 

 will usually direct him to parties that do. Expert 

 advice can be secured for the asking of the official 

 forester of the timber - owner's state or of some 

 other. Such advice is usually given free of charge 

 as long as there is no considerable expense of time 

 and travel incurred. Personal inspection and con- 

 sultation may be had at nominal cost. At all events, 

 whatever plan of sale is adopted, the timber-owner 

 should know whether selling for a lump sum, by 

 the thousand, "by the acre or by the cord, will bring 

 him the most satisfactory returns. 



