LOGGING IN THE DOUGLAS FIR REGION. 31 
both to hire and to discharge. There are a number of rather large 
and efficiently managed camps in which the camp foreman has direct 
charge of the felling and bucking, the activity of the man, or the 
character of the logging operation as a whole, making it possible 
for him to keep a close check on the felling and bucking work, make 
assignments, specify the log lengths, and see that waste does not 
occur. 
The head fallers and, generally, each bucker are held responsible 
to the head bucker or camp foreman for the quantity and quality of 
the work done. In a few cases, however, the buckers work in crews of 
three or four, and one of their number, besides doing the regular work 
of a bucker, acts as a strawboss, marks off the log lengths, and reports 
at stated periods the number of logs of different lengths cut. If the 
fallers and buckers are working under a bonus system, or if the 
management is keeping a close check on the amount of work done by 
each worker, a competent scaler is necessary. 
METHODS. 
THE DIKECTION OF FALL. 
The first step in the felling of a tree is the selection of the direc- 
tion in which it is to be thrown. This is governed by a number of 
factors, of which the following are the most important : 
(1) The lean of the tree. By the use of wedges, a tree standing 
perpendicularly may be sawed to fall in any direction. A heavily 
leaning tree may be thrown by the same 
means in any one of three directions, 
namely, as it leans, or to either side. If 
the lean is not too great, the tree may be 
thrown in any one of four directions. fig. i.— Failing wedge. 
However, with present standard equip- 
ment, that is, with the falling wedge (fig. 1), it costs too much to 
fell trees with other than a slight lean in a direction opposite to the 
lean, except to prevent excessive breakage and to avoid doing damage 
to improvements, equipment, etc. 
(2) The simplification of the first step in transportation. Timber 
cut for power yarding as a general thing should be thrown away 
from or toward the direction of haul, so that it can be moved with 
the least trouble, especially where the logs are cut into long lengths. 
Where short logs are cut, this is not essential. 
(3) The protection of workers and timber. Trees which are felled 
up steep slopes are less likely to break because the distance of fall 
is less. As a rule, however, this method is not used, because it is 
costly and dangerous. On such ground the trees are thrown down 
or along the side of the hill. On slopes where the timber will lie 
