COTTONWOOD IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 9 
source of supply, and partly to the better demand for what in the 
South would be classed as rather low grades. 
The stumpage value of planted groves of cottonwood in the prairie 
regions, especially in southern Minnesota, Iowa, the Dakotas, Kansas, 
and Nebraska will necessarily be higher than in the natural stands 
outside this region. The general adaptability of cottonwood for 
barn framing, roofing, stable flooring, bridge planking, etc., gives 
it a ready sale-at prices ranging from $20 to $22 per thousand mill- 
run. The cost of sawing, however, is also greater in this region, 
due to the limited amount of logs available at a given set-up and 
the few mills operating. It should, however, seldom exceed $7.50 
per thousand. The cost of cutting and yarding the logs will, on the 
other hand, in some degree offset this increase, and should not exceed 
$1.50 per thousand. Since generally most of the lumber will be used 
by the owner himself or his neighbors, it should have a value at 
the mill of at least $21, with a correspondingly high stumpage value. 
In this case the formula works out: 
S= 212 50-27-50) $12. 
In this region, therefore, we find the highest stumpage value pre- 
vailing anywhere, and in this figure no account is taken of the pro- 
tective value of the groves for windbreak purposes. 
CORDWOOD. 
Considerable quantities of cottonwood are sold in the form of 
cordwood—principally as pulpwood stock and as stave and excelsior 
bolts. In determining the stumpage value of such material, the 
market value of the final product, whether pulpwood, stave, or ex- 
celsior, is not considered, for it would entail a very technical study 
of the costs of manufacture. Instead, the price generally offered for 
the cordwood delivered is taken as the value per thousand in the 
stumpage equation, from which is deducted the costs, L, of pro- 
ducing the delivered cordwood. The stave and excelsior companies 
usually pay about $6 per cord delivered. At present paper companies 
do not, as a rule, obtain cottonwood from the Mississippi region, but 
till recently purchased such material at prices that brought the 
total cost delivered at mills in Ohio and Indiana up to approximately 
$7 per cord. The woods operations are alike for these various prod- 
ucts, except that excelsior stock and sometimes pulpwood stock must 
be peeled in the woods while green. The cost of felling and peeling 
and cutting into lengths is about $1.25 per cord. A haul of a fourth 
to a half mile to the river seldom exceeds $1 per cord. Barging is 
a variable cost, dependent upon the distance, but under average 
conditions should not exceed $2 per cord for 75 miles, including load- 
ing and unloading. If a profit of 20 per cent be allowed to the 
8471° —Bull. 24—13——2 
. 
