92 BULLETIN 440, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
flumes ranges from $1.75 to $1.90 per 1,000. The cost of fluming in 
short flumes with steep grades all the way is much less. In one such 
flume 4 J miles in length the lumber is shipped right from the trimmer 
without drying or sorting. One man is required to ship a daily out- 
put of from 60,000 to 70,000 feet. Only two herders are required, 
but five men are needed at the lower end to take the lumber out of 
the flume. The direct cost of fluming is thus about 35 cents per 
1,000, and the average cost of maintenance is calculated at from 10 
to 15 cents per 1,000 on a yearly output of 9,000,000 feet board 
measure. 
PART IV. GENERAL COST FACTORS. 
OVERHEAD CHARGES. 
Overhead charges include all current expenses which are not 
directly chargeable to any particular step in the operation; that is, 
expenses which apply to the entire operation. This is not strictly 
true of certain items such as taxes and insurance, for the lump sums 
in which they are paid can be divided into proportionate shares for 
each part of the operation. Such is not the common procedure, 
however, and need not be attempted in ordinary calculations of 
operating cost. Overhead charges are ordinarily computed upon 
the basis of each 1,000 feet of lumber shipped and may then be 
applied to each 1,000 feet log scale. 
Cruising and layout of logging operations are the first items of 
overhead cost met with. In private operations cruising is usually 
done at the time of purchase and may be considered as an additional 
cost of stumpage. Most of the layout of operations is covered by 
general superintendence, woods supervision, and engineering. 
The cost of protecting the timber from fire is a charge for carrying 
stumpage rather than for logging. A considerable proportion of 
the fire fighting done by private operators is, however, for the purpose 
of protecting chutes, cables, trestles, camps, and the like, and the 
cost of this part of the fire protection work should be added to the 
logging cost. National Forest sale contracts require each purchaser 
to use his employees in fighting fires within a certain defined region. 
The cost of this work may be properly considered as an extra cost of 
logging. 
TAXES. 
Taxes on standing timber are frequently considered by lumbermen 
as an operating cost; but they are logically a cost of carrying stump- 
age, and consequently do not enter into the cost of operating. The 
annual tax rates in the various timber counties vary from $1.64 to 
$2.60 per $1 00 of valuation. The average rate is from $1.95 to $2.05. 
Lumber plants are generally assessed at about 30 or 40 per cent of 
