44 AN AUSTRALIAN STUDY OF AMERICAN FORESTRY. 
The requirements of the contract are also explained, and the officer who 
prepares the agreement is held responsible for its clear understanding by the 
applicant. 
The marking is checked before the sawyers leave the logging unit, in 
order to designate additional trees which have been overlooked. 
It is the policy to secure the closest utilisation practicable, even if the 
same financial returns might be obtained for less material. 
“Merchantability ” is defined very precisely and every timber sale contract 
contains exact specifications of the material of which utilisation is required. 
Standard clauses are those requiring the cutting of all marked or dead 
trees which contain one or more merchantable logs; or which are of a sufficient 
height to constitute a-fire menace, or which are diseased. 
Low stumps, and the lopping, piling or scattering, and burning of brush 
and waste are other standard requirements. 
The Timber Sale Contract is a lengthy and formidable document and 
contains many conditions and restrictions. I was able to bring back with 
_me several sample copies of such agreement, which in the essentials are 
identical with those used in connection with the “super-royalty ” and special 
license schemes of New South Wales. 
Contracts may provide that in addition to the stumpage purchased, a 
specified area will be reserved from sale until the termination of the contract 
and then appraised and advertised for sale. As far as possible, the rate at 
which timber is sold from any area is such as to ensure a reasonable operating 
life for new mills constructed in connection with sales. But the mill power 
is accommodated to the yield, not the yield to the mill. 
One interesting proviso is contained in the following direction :— 
“Where partial cutting is practised, the less destructive of the 
known and practicable methods of logging will ordinarily be 
required. Specifically steam logging will usually not be permitted 
in partial cuttings where horse logging is practicable. The intro 
duction of new logging methods will not be permitted except after 
satisfactory showing that they are no more destructive than the 
former methods.” 
No timber may be cut under any sale contract until it has been paid for! 
A deposit must accompany every bid for advertised timber, sufficient to 
cover the value of the results of two months of active logging. An amount 
must always be on deposit large enough to ensure against overcutting. 
Purchasers are notified well in advance wherl an additional deposit is required. 
Failure to make prompt payment upon request is cause for suspending 
operations. 
No timber cut under any contract may be removed from the cutting area 
until it has been measured and branded. 
The Forest Service employs scalers who do nothing else but scaling. 
Measurement is according to the Scribner Decimal “C” rule, which by 
measuring the small end diameter and the length gives approximately the 
sawn output. Scaling by this method is quick and cheap. With the modern 
band saw, the output often exceeds the scaled contents slightlv—an overrun; 
but it is a method which might be adopted in Australian practice with 
advantage. 
