LOGGING PRACTICE IN THE LAKE STATES 27 
IN NORWAY, WHITE AND JACK FORESTS * 
On the Minnesota National Forest, where the logging operations 
are in Norway, white, and jack pine stands, the slash is burned pro- 
gressively at the time of logging. This method with some modifica- 
tions has been in use for over 20 years and has back of it the 
experience and sound judgment of many practical men. 
The cost varies in stands of different qualities and densities, in 
no case exceeding 75 cents to $1 a thousand board feet logged. The 
mental attitude of the operator is usually reflected in the cost of the 
work. Some operators maintain that the cost of clearing the ground 
is practically offset by the increased number of logs they can handle 
per day; while others who are not convinced of the need of brush 
disposal and do it grudgingly and in a hit-or-miss manner with men 
spared from other lines of work complain that the costs are high. 
The disposal of brush by progressive burning has become espe- 
cially effective and inexpensive with the introduction of the so-called 
“oyppo” or piecework system about four years ago. The “ gyppo” 
introduces better teamwork and creates an incentive for efficiency. 
Two experienced pieceworkers will fell all their trees toward a given 
point with the trunks radiating from it like spokes from the hub of 
a wheel, with the result that the tops of 10 to 20 trees may be burned 
on one fire. This not only saves time for the sawyers, but also 
reduces the area actually burned over. In one instance, all the slash 
on 1 acre of jack pine that cut 15,000 board feet was burned in four 
piles covering in all a little over 1 per cent of the acre. 
On another job, on which the logging was done during the winter 
of 1924-25, the timber was jack pine varying from a few trees up 
to 15,000 board feet per acre. The trees averaged 2.5 to 3 logs to a 
tree and the logs ran about 30 to the thousand. Logs were cut 
to a minimum top diameter of 6 inches, and pulpwood out of the 
tops to a minimum diameter of 4inches. The operator paid 10 cents 
a log and 38 cents a stick for jack-pine pulpwood, including felling, 
bucking, and brush disposal. A crew of sawyers averaged each day 
1 cord of pulp wood (50 sticks) and 105 logs, at a cost of $12 a day, 
or about $3 a thousand board feet for the whole operation. Obser- 
vation showed that 25 to 35 per cent of the time of the sawyer was 
actually spent on disposing of slash, including all limbs and unmer- 
chantable material under 8 inches in diameter. This made the 
expense for slash disposal about 75 cents a thousand board feet 
logged. One man and team can skid, under average conditions, 
about 2,600 board feet a day at a cost of $4.05 per man and horse, 
or at the rate of approximately $1.55 a thousand board feet. With 
the slash burned before skidding, one man and team will skid about 
3,250 board feet per day, a saving of 30 cents a thousand board feet 
directly attributable to slash disposal. In this particular operation 
i net cost of slash disposal was therefore 45 cents a thousand board 
eet. 
On another operation, cutting Norway pine entirely, the net cost of 
progressively burning the slash, after crediting the saving in the 
cost of skidding, ranged from 33 to 58 cents a thousand board feet. 
3 MARSHALL, C. E., and CUMMINGS, M. J. SLASH DISPOSAL IN NORTHERN MINNESOTA 
(Amer. Lumberman, Jan, 29, 1927). 
