32 THE ‘‘BLUING’’ AND THE ‘'RED ROT” OF THE PINE. 
for the purpose of determining about how much dead and dying tim- 
ber one could safely count on removing this winter. Estimates were 
individual, and these estimates “ agreed fairly well ‘as to the relative 
amounts of the various grades of timber present. Taking these 
estimates as a basis, it appears that about half of the timber in this 
particular region is nowdead. This refers to the standing timber, and 
leaves the fallen timber entirely out of consideration. This immense 
amount of timber is drying out rapidly and forms a tremendous fire 
danger. Should fire start in these woods, it would sweep the dead as 
well as the living trees from the hillsides. The great danger of leaving 
the trees with the beetles in them, which will be ‘‘sorrel tops” next 
summer, has been pointed out by Hopkins. Besides these two dangers, 
there is still another point worthy of attention, and that is the loss, 
under present conditions, of the value of this wood. The following 
considerations are made, keeping in mind both the protection of the 
living timber against further insect and fire loss and the possible 
utilization of the vast amount of dead timber. 
POSSIBLE DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD WOOD. 
IN TBE BLACK HILLS. 
Timber from the Black Hills Forest Reserve is now being used by 
the mining interests in the Hills, and to a very small extent by the rail- 
roads on their lines in.South Dakota. The mining interests use the 
wood for mine props, lagging, and fuel. They are absolutely depend- 
ent on the timber in the Reserve for the lumber necessary for use in 
mining, for their fuel, and for their water, which is conserved because 
of the forests on the hillsides. The railroads use the wood for cross- 
ties on the lines which extend from Lead City and Deadwood south to 
the State line. The timber used for mine props, lagging, etc., by all 
the mines in the Black Hills is stated to be about 75,000,000 feet at the 
maximum, The amount of timber used for ties is practically inap- 
preciable, and at this writing most of the tie cutting has practically 
stopped. 
It appears from this that the amount of dead timber which could 
possibly be used in the Black Hills is not more than 75,000,000 feet. 
“The exact estimates were as follows: 
Kind of timber. | Levee ehh LIS TM 
| | 
| 
| Per cent. Per cent. | Per cent. 
| 40 
Green'timpbercee ha eee eee eee Pied eit 9 et a Neg ea ee es es ee es RN 40 
SOrrel: COPS yee ae TAL Ren ti A 25 25 | 25 
““RediOPS7? te 2 ose e eee eee ee ee ee ee ray ek, 2 Reece | 20 | 15 15 
“Blake tops iiss es Bee lereps aie oe eee ere ern  ae) 9 15 | 20 10 
The third estimate was made by Dr. Hopkins and the writer. 
