87 



Table 55b. — Wood for Sprags, year ending June, 1912. 



Kind of Wood. 



Quantity. 



1 



Average cost per 1,000 ft. 

 at factory. 



Total cost f. 0. b. factory. 



Grown in 

 Pennsyl- 

 vania. 



Grown Out 

 of Penn- 

 sylvania. 



Feet I), m. 



Per cent. 



Feet b. m. 



Feet b. m. 





1,091,847 

 816,363 

 612,845 

 304,200 

 139,088 



92.325 

 37 425 

 31,350 

 23,20'5 

 21,684 



10,875 

 4,500 

 750 



34.27 

 25.62 

 19.23 

 9.55 

 4.37 



2.90 

 1.17 

 .98 

 .73 

 .68 



.34 

 .14 

 .02 



$14 00 



13 51 



14 18 

 13 55 



15 73 



10 71 

 21 54 

 10 18 



16 42 



13 14 



14 62 

 20 00 

 13 33 



$15,286 

 11,031 

 8,701 

 4,121 

 2,188 



989 

 806 

 319 

 381 

 285 



159 

 90 

 10 



1,091,847 

 816,363 

 612,845 

 304,200 

 139,088 



92,325 

 37,425 

 31,350 

 23,206 

 21,684 



10,875 

























Ash, ..: 

















Birch,' 







4,500 





750 



Total, 





3,186,457 



100.00 



$13 92 



$44,366 



3,181,957 



4,500 



Over 3,000,000 feet of wood is required annually for making sprags in 

 Pennsylvania. This is not representative of all the material that is used as 

 many of these commodities are made by hand and concerning which it is im- 

 possible to get information; others are made elsewhere and shipped in for 

 use in Pennsylvania collieries, 



Sprags at present are almost entirely made from young timber, pole size; 

 coppice oak and maple being cut for this purpose. This is often a sacrifice 

 of valuable second growth timber since it is practicable to make this com- 

 modity from material considered as waste. In that connection the present 

 report may aid in bringing about the utilization of woods waste, like tops, 

 limbs, cut offs, fire killed poles, etc., the most difficult to market of all the 

 off-fall from lumber operations. 



In this connection the Department of Forestry of Pennsylvania recently 

 made a valuable experiment, an outline of the results of which will prove of 

 considerable importance not only to mining companies and others owning 

 their own timber, but to all interested in forest conservation. 



During the winters of 1911-12 fire killed a stand of oak and chestnut cop- 

 pice 14 years old on 75 acres in one of the State Forests in the northeastern 

 part of Pennsylvania. This timber was not merchantable because of the 

 size and distance from market. The Department of Forestry conceived the 

 idea of its sale in the form of sprags and accordingly arrangements were made 

 with an owner of a sprag machine to move onto the tract and use all suit- 

 able timber for making this commodity. A contract was made for manu- 

 facturing and delivering the finished product to the nearest shipping point 

 for $9.30 which included, owing to distance, a cost of $4 for wagon transporta- 

 tion. Eleven dollars was the price received for the finished sprags at the sid- 

 ing, leaving a balance of $1.70 a thousand pieces for stumpage. The De- 

 partment of Forestry scored a success in the undertaking partly because of 

 the revenue received from the fire killed timber, otherwise a waste; also by 



