50 BULLETIN 1496, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
2. Slash along trails and highways should be disposed of by piling 
and burning for a distance of from 50 to 100 feet on each side of the 
road or trail, if possible at the time of logging. 
3. Safety zones should also be burned around settlers’ homes, close 
to green timber, etc. The slash in every case should be piled to 
_secure thorough burning of the débris. 
4. If the slash is very heavy and covers a wide continuous area, it 
may be desirable to break up the logged-off land by strips about 50 
feet wide on which the slash is piled and burned. 
- 5. Snags and dead trees should be felled, especially birch snags, 
as they often help to spread fires and make them hard to control. 
It is the experience of many timber operators that enough sound 
logs are salvaged to more than pay for felling all snags. 
In partial cuttings an attempt should always be made to find a 
market for the tops of the trees and for the culled logs. In some 
localities they can be marketed for chemical wood. Such wood is 
taken to 3 inches at the top and solves well the problem of slash 
disposal. Occasionally where there is no market for chemical wood 
some demand for firewood, mine timber, and even ties can be created 
for the tops. Even if the disposal of the tops for these products 
merely covers the cost of their removal it is still an advantageous 
operation for the timber owner, as it reduces the fire risk and leaves 
the land in a more desirable condition for future growth. 
Where the tops are not utilized they should be left flat on the 
ground, except along the skidways, where they should be piled and 
burned at the first favorable opportunity. Under a partial system of 
cutting the fire hazard is reduced, the slash is comparatively hght 
and is left at separated points, the humidity within the forest 1s high, 
and herbaceous vegetation under the shade of trees remains green in 
the fall, when in the open all the grass is already frost-killed and 
readily inflammable. All these conditions make a forest cut over in 
such a manner fairly fireproof and the leaving of slash on the ground 
an efficient method of disposal. 
YIELDS AND COSTS 
Where the entire stand is cut clean for saw logs, ties, mine timber, 
and chemical wood, if a dense reproduction is already on the ground 
and the logged-off area is protected from fire, the land may be 
expected to produce in 100 years 6,000 and in 120 years 8,000 board 
feet per acre. If trees of saw-log size only are removed, or only such 
saw-log trees are cut as can be economically logged, the growth per 
acre per year after logging may be conservatively estimated at from 
100 to 125 board feet, or 6,000 board feet within 50 or 60 years after 
logging. : 
What are the elements of cost and the basis for computing the 
probable returns? Again, without attempting to indicate in absolute 
figures the profitableness of timber growing in general, the financial 
- considerations involved may be stated. The average stand of hard- 
woods per acre over large areas is about 6,000 board feet net log 
scale. If it takes 100 years to produce 6,000 board feet, with no 
other forest expenditures except fire protection, taxes, and interest 
on the land, and the timber company is a going concern with sufficient 
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