64 



FOREST CONDITIONS IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA. 



was shipped outside of the State. When this industry started, chestnut 

 wood could be bought for $2 a cord delivered at the railroad, and for 

 two or three years it did not bring more than $2.50 a cord; the price 

 has, however, gradually increased until now $4 is paid. 



Table 4 gives the approximate amount of chestnut wood cut for tan- 

 ning extract in the various counties in 1909. It will be seen that the 

 counties without railroad facilities furnish none of this product. 



Table 4. — Output of Chestnut Tanning Extract Wood in 



by Counties. 



), in Cords op 160 Cubic Feet, 



Counties 



Cords 



Counties 



Cords 





10,500 





13,485 



Clav 





9,142 





990 

 15,360 



2,826 

 13,039 



8,510 

 18,080 





582 











Mitchell 



2,090 



























Total 



94, 584 











The greater part of the wood is cut and delivered to the railroad by 

 the small farmers during the season when there is not much to do 

 on the farms. The factories will buy any grade of wood so long as it 

 is sound, large enough, and sufficiently straight to be used with their 

 machinery. Dead trees as well as defective live ones can be used, and 

 much timber for which there is no other market is sold for this pur- 

 pose. The methods of getting the wood to market vary. In some 

 cases it is hauled down the slope in the log, in others cut into shorter 

 lengths and "ball-hooted" (rolled) down to the place where it is cut 

 into five foot lengths and split; in still other cases it is cut and split 

 on the slope and sent to the bottom in portable Y-shaped troughs. The 

 split wood reaches the railroad by wagon hauls or by flumes, the latter 

 being much cheaper. On account of the weight of the wood and its 

 comparatively low price, long hauls are not possible. The average 

 haul is from two to three miles to the railroad or flume, though where 

 roads are good, chestnut wood is sometimes hauled as far as eight or 

 ten miles. The approximate cost of delivering wood at the station is 

 about as follows: cutting, logging, and splitting the wood, $1.50 a 

 cord; hauling to the railroad, 50 cents a cord per mile. Where large 

 logging operations are going on, cord wood is often brought out over 

 the tram road. 



The process of extracting the tannin is about as follows : The wood 

 is put into a chipper or "hog," which chips it up into small pieces from 

 one-fourth to one-half inch thick, and not over an inch in length. From 



