58 PRACTICAL FORESTRY IN THE ADIRONDACKS. 
temptation for a jobber to do careless work is very great. Unless eare- 
fully watched he is apt to cut unnecessarily high stumps, to leave large 
tops in order to avoid the trouble of trimming off the branches, to leave 
trees lodged in hardwoods, and otherwise to fall below the standard of 
good lumbering. (Pl. XVII, fig. 2.) 
The principal loss arising from careless lumbering is occasioned by— 
(1) Needlessly high stumps. 
(2) Large tops. 
(3) Skids left in the woods. 
(4) Valuable timber used in leveling roads. 
(5) Destruction of small growth in felling, skidding, and hauling. 
LOSS BY CUTTING HIGH STUMPS. 
When the trees are felled by chopping, the stumps are cut at the 
point at which the axe naturally falls when the chopper stands erect. 
This is usually about 3 feet above the ground. The majority of trees, 
however, are Sawed down, and their stumps are somewhat lower, averag- 
ing about 30 inches in height. (Pl. XVII, fig. 1; Pl. XX, fig. 1.) The 
sawyers protest against cutting low stumps, because it tires their backs 
to stoop over, and in order to avoid trouble with the men the foreman 
usually allows them to do as they please in the matter. Experience by 
careful lumbermen has proved that such high stumps are entirely need- 
less. In the following table the average height of stumps of trees 9, 10, 
11, and 12 inches in diameter, cut in Nehasane in 1897, is compared to 
that of trees cut in Franklin County by the Santa Clara Lumber Com- 
pany in 1896, where a special effort was made to cut stumps as low as 
possible. No figures are given for trees over 12 inches through, because 
the Santa Clara Lumber Company was lumbering on cut-over land and 
there were but few trees above this size 
Average height of stumps cut at Santa Clara, N. Y., in 1896, and at Nehasane, N. Y., in 
1897. 
Average height of | 
: stumps. 
Diameter | 
of trees. = 
Santa - rs 
Clare Nehasane. 
Inches. Inches. Inches. 
| 9 | 17 26 | 
10 16 25 
11 19 26 
12 20 . 29 
In the Adirondacks the timber is sealed by measuring the logs at 
the small end after they have been placed on the skidway. The meas- 
urements are always taken in even inches. Thus, a log 6.3 inches in 
