LOGGING PRACTICE IN THE LAKE STATES 29 
pine on all areas where fire conditions warrant. In swamp areas or 
isolated patches, such as hummocks of high land within the spruce 
swamp, where fire danger is not great, the limbs are lopped but not 
burned. Cutting in these stands on the national forests has been so 
infrequent that no conclusions as to the cost and effectiveness of such 
slash disposal are warranted. 
GENERAL CONCLUSIONS REGARDING SLASH DISPOSAL AND ITS COST 
From the examples cited it is fairly clear that the cost of slash 
disposal in hardwoods and conifers may vary according to the 
method used from an actual saving in the cost of logging to $1 
additional for each thousand board feet cut. 
The burning of slash in pine and spruce timber on highlands, 
according to timber operators themselves, should cost at most but 
$1 per thousand board feet. Even this amount or part of it may 
be saved through reduction in the cost of swamping if the slash is 
burned before the logs are skidded. ‘The lopping of hardwoods and 
conifers In swamps “and the burning of slashing along skidways, 
rights of way, and protective fire zones can probably be accomplished 
at a cost of 25 to 40 cents per thousand board feet. 
It must be borne in mind that the estimates of the cost of slash 
disposal advanced by timberland owners are as a rule merely guesses. 
The few actual figures obtained would indicate that slash disposal 
is not expensive and that it occasionally results in a net saving in 
the cost of logging, through facilitating skidding and through the 
salvage of logs which would otherwise become covered with slash 
and be left in the woods. A point brought out by the Canadian 
experiments is that slash disposal should “precede skidding and be 
done just as soon as the trees are felled. This leaves the logs on 
the ground in such a way that the skidder teamsters can do the work 
alone, no swampers being required and no logs being overlooked. 
When the timber operators realize the advantages of disposing of 
slash as a part of logging operations there will be no need of any 
compulsory regulations. ‘They will do it voluntarily because of the 
saving effected through the reduction in the number or the entire 
elimination of swampers. 
It must be further remembered that slash disposal is not yet 
commonly practiced by private operators unless under compulsion, 
as in timber cutting on the national forests. For this reason the 
cost is comparatively high. When slash disposal becomes a regular 
part of logging operations, and willing and experienced men are 
assigned to handle it, the cost may reasonably be expected to be con- 
siderably less. But even the present cost is not excessive. 
Disposal of coniferous slash by burning in winter or in midsummer 
at the time of logging, as a general principle, should be strongly rec- 
ommended, not “only on national forests, where it is already in 
practice, but also on all State forest lands on which timber is being 
cut and on private lands which are to be devoted to timber growing. 
On private timberlands, even though the cost of disposal of all 
slash over the entire area ‘by burning at the time of logging is not 
prohibitive and the method offers many advantages, a simplified 
