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FOREST PRODUCTS 



bark may tighten over night. The peelers work in pairs. The tree is 

 first girdled and felled and the bark removed in 4-ft. sections in the 

 very same way as has been described for hemlock bark. The bark is 

 removed up to a point about | in. in thickness on the trunk. As the 

 bark is removed, it is laid on the ground or stood against the trunk with 

 the fresh side upward. Workmen commonly peel 2 cords a day on the 

 average, and trees down to a diameter of 4 to 8 in. are stripped of their 

 bark. Sometimes bark from standing trees is removed as far as it can 

 be conveniently reached and the rest of the tree is left to die. This 



PhoLograph by U. S Forest Senice. 



Fig. 16. — A peeling operation on tanbark oak near Sherwood, Mendocino Co., California. 

 After the tree is felled and the limbs removed, circular rings are cut through the bark at 

 4-ft. intervals and the bark pried off with the axe as illustrated. 



wasteful method has seriously interfered with the future of the industry 

 in California. 



Owing to the lack of railway facihties, considerable bark in this region 

 is hauled to the coast and loaded on schooners. A schooner load is com- 

 monly about 200 cords of bark. 



The future supply of tanbark oak in California must be obtained 

 from forests now largely inaccessible and from second growth timber, 

 and more conservative methods should be employed in the woods by 



