FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 225 



through rapids and over falls, and by their lying in the water until taken 

 out for manufacture. If the logs were to be manufactured at Raquette 

 Lake, two inches, or at the most three, would cover all trimming, as the 

 logs would not have to be driven through rapids or over large falls. An 

 extra four inches, however, should be allowed on this tract for the lengths 

 to which the softwoods are usually cut — 10, 12, 13, or 14 feet, and also 

 16 feet when it is for the purpose of saving timber by bringing the cutting 

 point in the top to the prescribed limit. This can always be done by vary- 

 ing the length of the log on the foregomg length scale. To allow any 

 longer lengths than these to be scaled at the top end would cause a loss 

 to the State, on account of the decrease in diameter as compared with 

 timber cut 13 feet — the length upon which the scale rule advised is based. 

 But if the timber were cut into 10- to 16-foot lengths, and the quantities 

 above and below the 13-foot standard length balanced, there would be no 



appreciable loss. 



Height of Stump. 



It is always important in lumbering to cut at the lowest point prac- 

 ticable. The timber in the butt is almost invariably of the first quality. 

 It is clear and free from knots, and, if sound in the heart, is actu- 

 ally worth more to the manufacturer than any other portion. Very 

 frequently the cutting of the tree at the lowest point practicable will con- 

 siderably increase the scale allowed for the whole tree, because the slight 

 difference either way in the height of the stump increases or decreases 

 the diameter at the top of the logs. In the Adirondacks logs are scaled in 

 even inches. Fractions of an inch below ^ are dropped, while any above 

 are considered whole inches. Very often the diameter of a log is so near 

 the -l-inch point that the increase gained by cutting low is enough to put 

 the log into the next higher inch class. These apparently slight differences 

 in scale may at first glance seem of little importance, but in reality they can 

 make or mar the profits of the average lumber job. 



In verification of the above, we cite results of experimental measure- 

 ments made in 1897 by Henry S. Graves, now Director of the Yale Forest 

 School, and published by the Division of Forestry in Bulletin No. 26, 

 entitled " Practical Forestry in the x\dirondacks," page 59: 



" Two hundred and eighty-three trees, which were measured in Neha- 

 sane Park in 1897, were scaled in standards. The taper of each log in 

 each tree was computed, and it was determined what the diameter at the 

 top of each would have been if the stump had been cut 18 inches above 

 the ground. 



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