38 BULLETIN 24, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
a time when the water is up. Stumps are sometimes from 8 to 16 
feet high. Wherever practicable no stumps should be left higher 
than 30 inches unless the butts are defective. 
More material is wasted in tops. Small logs should not be left in 
the woods if they can be handled profitably. Such logs saw out little 
above the grade of No. 2 common, which usually sells f. 0. b. at the 
mill for from $12 to $15 per thousand. On expensive logging opera- 
tions the actual cost of delivering these logs at the mill and sawing 
them may so nearly approximate this price as to allow no profit. 
Most of the mills sawing cottonwood are now taking logs as small as 
14 inches and under favorable logging conditions many concerns can 
utilize straight top logs comparatively free of knots as small as 12 
inches at the top. Most of the mills sawing cottonwood which have 
a daily capacity of over 50,000 board feet are located in the larger 
towns along the river or at the edge of bottom lands, necessitating a 
long haul. Small portable mills located on the tract can often utilize 
with profit logs as small as 10 inches in diameter at the top. Although 
only one mill of this type was observed in the lower Mississippi Val- 
ley, 1t is probable that.in the future the small mill may make possible 
a closer utilization of cottonwood. In the northern part of the valley 
mills frequently utilize to advantage logs even smaller. 
Much of the present waste in leaving top logs is due, in part, to the 
improper marking of log lengths. Moreover, where logging is done 
by contract, a common method in the lower valley, the contractor 
leaves much small-sized timber in the woods, as by handling only the 
“larger logs he reduces the cost of getting the logs to the river. The 
contracts should plainly specify that all trees above 16 inches diameter 
breasthigh that will cut one or more merchantable logs shall be taken 
unless designated for seed trees. Tops should be utilized to 12 inches 
where straight and free from branches, or to 14 inches where they 
contain no more than four or five small branches not over 4 inches in 
diameter. 
To increase the percentage of cottonwood in future stands and » 
gradually eliminate the less valuable species, the latter should be cut 
whenever possible, even without profit. Actual loss may at times be 
justified, since it may be considered an investment in restocking the 
area to cottonwood. Asa rule, however, the removal of these “ weed 
trees ” will be warranted only where their utilization is possible. For 
this purpose the erection of cooperage plants on or near logging oper- 
ations would materially simplify the problem. Such plants could 
utilize at a profit the larger elm, maple, hackberry, sycamore, and box- 
elder, as well as much of the cottonwood and gum too small for saw 
timber. Otherwise, deadening these trees would be the only means 
of clearing the ground for reproduction. The plants could also utilize 
a good proportion of the lumber which would ordinarily be left in the 
