446 



REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



Diameter Limit at Top End. 



That only a slight difference in scale is gained by cutting the top log of a 

 tree at the top end to a four or five inch diameter limit rather than six inches, 

 is shown by the following table, obtained by very careful measurements on 1,064 

 spruce, and represented in nineteen-inch standards by Dimick's Rule: 



DIFFERENCE IN SCALE BETWEEN CUTTING THE TOP LOG TO FOUR OR FIVE 

 INCHES AND TO SIX INCHES AT THE TOP END. 



DIAMETER BREASTHIGH. 



Inches. 



10 and over 

 12 and over 

 I4 and over 



Number of 



trees 

 analyzed. 



1,064 



Total gain by 



cutting 



to 5 inches 



rather than to 



6 inches. 



Standards. 



3-39 

 2.16 



•44 



Average gain 

 per tree. 



Standards. 



0.003 



.002 



.001 



Total gain by 



cutting 



to 4 inches 



rather than to 



6 inches. 



Standards. 



4.06 



2.52 



.26 



Average gain 

 per tree. 



Standards. 

 0.004 

 .003 

 .0004 



It is true that were the purchaser of stumpage to manufacture his own 

 timber, the value of the additional timber which the smaller limit would yield 

 would be greater than the table indicates, and, on the other hand, there would be 

 no very appreciable gain in scale to the State. It is also probable that log buyers 

 and dealers in pulpwood will offer some objections to removing the timber to as 

 small a diameter as five inches, since when a tree is cut down to six inches 

 in diameter in the tops there is usually but little timber having any commercial 

 value remaining, even for pulpwood. Pulp logs cut to this diameter, however, 

 are being purchased by dealers throughout the State and there is no difficulty in 

 disposing of timber so cut, if it be sold with the balance of the timber in the 

 tree. Still, in consideration of the fact that the forest would be benefited by the 

 removal of just so much more of the objectionable tops, and the danger of 

 damage by fire proportionately decreased, it is considered advisable in lumbering 

 these townships to require that all merchantable spruce and balsam timber be 

 cut and utilized down to a diameter of five inches in the top of the tree. 



Should any merchantable timber over five inches in diameter at the small 

 end, long enough to yield a four-foot stick of pulpwood, be left in the tops, it 

 should be scaled and charged double to the purchaser of the stumpage as a 

 penalty for leaving it, unless there be some visible defect or reason satisfactory 

 to the inspector why it should not be taken. The length of logs can be varied 



