Table 8.—Number of wood-based plants in the four States of 
south Brazil, 1961 
State | 
Type of plant | | | | Total 
| Sao | Pa- |Santa| Rio | 
| Paulo| ranaé | Cata- | Grande 
rina | do Sul 
Sawmill: 
Commercial: | | 
Parand pine...... 8 | 720 |1,023 |} 382 | 2,133 
Broadleaf. .:..... 532°) 42 eis Th 2,299 
Mixed species....|..... 102 162 20 284 
Reogul snake co etkr ee 528 | 426 | 235 | 1,674 | 2,863 
Totaly eet 1,068 |1,669 |2,693 | 2,149 | 7,579 
Plywood and veneer | 
plants uel ot weet | 9] 243] 55 12} 319 
Match factories....... | 9 0 | 0 0 9 
inyealiy, & seed ook 11 64. 190 1 | 269 
Bapermullaty scree | sin) | 5 3 6 | 19 
Other woodworking | 
Planta nyse ess ete 241 | 984 620 | 1,109 | 2,954 
Sassafras oil plants. .. 0 0 145 ) 145 
otal 1,373 |2,965 |3, 706 | 3,280 |11, 324 
1 Reported in 1960 by the National Association of Paper 
Manufacturers. 
seeds and waxes from palms in the Northeast, 
16,700 gathering hevea latex and other rubbers in 
the North, and 20,000 harvesting maté in the South. 
The 1950 agricultural census also reported the 
number of rural establishments engaged in small- 
scale timber production as follows: 
Establishments 
Product: (thousands) 
Huelwoodie een eee 407 
Gharcoalte ees ee eee 16 
LO pSet iss eee oes 6 
Béamss Fonte ee 6 
Grossties th. ec Woe ee 6 
Polese 2k oe ae 6 
Many of these enterprises may have turned out 
several of these products and thus were counted more 
than once. 
While the greater part of the nonwood products 
are collected from wild trees, many are also produced 
by cultivated crops in large plantations and on 
small farms. Most nonwood forest products are 
used without further 
collectors, or processed in small or handicraft 
establishments. 
processing, processed by 
¢ 
bo 
Logging Methods 
About 1,500,000 people are employed in logging. 
Methods of logging vary much by timber type and 
region, according to whether transportation is by 
Except for a few large mechanized 
operations in the Parana pine region, timber 
removal methods are primitive. 
In the Amazon rain forest, where practically all 
logs are brought out by water, logging operations 
are restricted to the vicinity of floatable water- 
courses because logs are commonly moved from 
Like all 
collection of forest products in the Amazon Basin, 
sawmills usually obtain their log supply through 
several intermediary traders and contractors, who 
barter for timber cutting and floating with forest 
workers (caboclos) living along the rivers. Some 
mills supplement their supply also by the capture of 
water or land. 
stump to watercourse by manpower. 
uprooted trees and logs from shattered rafts floating 
on the rivers. 
Timber removal in the Amazon area is confined 
to scattered large specimens of a few desirable 
In general, axes are used to fell the trees 
and to cut the stems into 12-foot logs; the use of 
saws is uncommon. ‘The men work on scaffolds to 
set the cut above the butt swell (fig. 22). To 
move the logs from the stump to floatable water, 
a skid road is cleared for a width of 20 feet and 
provided with three lines of parallel round timbers 
over which the logs are pushed or rolled by hand, 
The skidding 
distance is usually short, but may exceed 1 mile 
in a few places. Fluted or flat-sided butt logs, 
too difficult to move by this method, are left in the 
forest, causing the loss of the most valuable wood 
of the tree and often the only part that furnishes 
figured lumber and veneer. 
the logs are tied into triangular rafts which are 
floated or towed by launch to the sawmills, some- 
times over a distance up to 2,000 miles. The logs 
actually delivered to the sawmill seldom represent 
species. 
with or without the help of levers. 
In the larger rivers, 
a volume of more than 250 board feet per acre. 
Mahogany, the most valuable timber of the 
Amazon forest, grows on the volcanic uplands about 
3 miles back from the main watercourses. Here 
logs are rolled into dry gullies (grutaos) which, after 
heavy rains, carry enough water for a few days to 
float the logs to the rivers. The failure of the 
timely occurrence of sufficiently strong flash floods 
often causes the largest and best logs to be left in 
the forest. Log transport from the uplands to the 
2 FOREST RESOURCE REPORT 16, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
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