LOGGING PRACTICE IN THE LAKE STATES 47 
removed and no slash disposed of. And the forest is left in a better 
growing condition than before, with assurance of another cut of 
timber and with practically no additional cost for reforestation. . 
Such a forest would be able periodically to provide large veneer 
logs or logs yielding high-grade lumber. An additional advantage 
of this cutting is that such logging does not mar the esthetic value 
of the forest, a very important consideration in this instance, for 
the operation surrounds a lake fringed with summer homes. 
But what is even more important than the preservation of aesthetic 
values is that this forest has been left in an almost fireproof condition 
and is almost as safe, or will be in the next three to five years, as any 
old-hardwood forest. This company has now been convinced of the 
advantages of selective cutting and about 1,000 acres have since been 
logged in the same manner. 
Another example of selective logging, in the Upper Peninsula of 
Michigan, near Marquette, may be cited. In a stand of timber which 
averaged 6,350 board feet net log scale per acre, 35 per cent, or 2,250 
board feet, was removed in selective logging. In all, 45,000 board feet 
was removed from 20 acres, and in addition about 250 cords of chem- 
ical wood was cut from the defective portions of the trees, from the 
tops, and from the small cull trees which were considered not worth 
retaining in the stand. The stand averaged 190 trees per acre 
between 8 and 88 inches in diameter. On an average about eight 
trees were cut to the acre, and the diameter of the trees cut corre- 
sponded roughly to a diameter limit of 22 inches breast high. 
The logging was done by a contractor at a cost, including felling, 
hauling, and loading on the cars, of $10.50 per thousand board feet. 
The cost of cutting, hauling, and loading chemical wood, which was 
disposed of at a stumpage price of 50 cents a cord, was $4 a cord. 
On the entire tract only 89 trees were knocked down by felling, 
and only 3 of these were 12 inches or over in diameter. The cutting 
demonstrated that selective logging can be carried on under practical 
logging conditions without appreciable damage to the trees which are 
to be left for the next cutting. It has shown further that the cost of 
the method is not prohibitive; that the cost per thousand board feet 
compares very favorably with the usual large-scale operation where 
the forest is clear-cut. Since the tops and the large limbs were cut 
into chemical wood down to 3 inches, there was no expense for slash 
disposal. 
A most striking result of selective logging in this instance is that, 
because of the high quality of the product, more than half of the 
value of the stand was removed and yet only one-third of the volume. 
The average value of hardwood logs cut in ordinary logging opera- 
tions during the winter of 1926-27 was about $19 a thousand feet on 
the cars and in some localities even less. Of these logs cut under 
selective logging, the maple logs were worth $27.30 a thousand feet, 
and the birch $39.31. Since there were cut 6,124 feet of birch logs 
and 39,048 feet of maple, the average value of the logs cut on the 
20 acres was $28.93 a thousand feet. Had the entire stand been cut 
the value of the logs at $19 a thousand feet would have been $120.65 
an acre. The value of only 35 per cent of the volume, in logs taken 
from the largest trees, was about $65 an acre. 
An account of the actual use made of the logs cut selectively, as 
given in Table 9, is of interest. 
