FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 229 



growth. Many lumbermen make a very serious mistake by cutting too 

 many roads for the area to be himbered. They lose not only the cost of 

 cutting out and leveling the roads preparatory to lumbering, but also that 

 of clearing out for more skidways than are needed and of the breaking out 

 and fitting up more roads in the winter than are necessary for hauling. 

 A winter of deep snows entails a consequent expense of shovehng the snow 

 from the front and off the top of a large number of unnecessary skidways. 

 These are not small items under certain conditions, as many lumbermen 

 have found out to their sorrow. 



Much unnecessary cutting and clearing out incident to making too 

 many roads and skidways can be avoided by a careful location of the main 

 roads and the building of no more branch roads than are absolutely neces- 

 sary to reach the timber without skidding the logs too far, and also by 

 building fewer and consequently larger skidways, whenever practicable, 

 rather than many small ones. It is impossible to make a set rule 

 for the distance logs should be skidded or the number of roads to be cut, 

 both varying greatly with difference in topography. The proper location 

 of roads should come under the direct supervision of the inspector in charge 

 of the work, in whose hands, if he is competent for the position, these 

 details may be safely left. 



Use of Timber for Skids, Corduroy, and Bridges. 



In building skidw^a}^s, corduroys, and bridges, the smaller hardwoods 

 should always be used whenever it is practicable. Where there is no hard- 

 _ wood nearby, the Balsam will almost invariably be found in sufficient quan- 

 tity. Whenever possible one of these should be used for this work. 



In building skidways, it has been found practicable and econom- 

 ical at times to cut from the trees intended for logs sticks of 2 or 3 log- 

 lengths, as the holding capacity of the skidway may require, and to use 

 them lor skids until the logs are hauled off them in the winter. They 

 should afterwards be cut into the proper lengths and hauled with the other 

 logs. On account of the large diameter limit here advised for the cutting, 

 it would be advisable to use that part of the tree nearest the top for this 

 purpose, since it is lighter and easier to handle. At the same time it should 

 be remembered that there is a decided advantage in using large, heavy 

 skids, since, although it takes a little more time to get them into position, 

 they do not require as much blocking up to raise them to the proper height 

 in front, and the danger of the breaking down of a large skidway, after the 



