BALSAM FIR. 
17 
DIFFICULTIES IN LOGGING. 
Compared with spruce, balsam fir is difficult and expensive to log. 
It is small, and therefore a gang working in a pure stand of balsam 
can not cut in a day as much as when working in spruce. When 
green it is heavier than spruce and therefore harder to snake out and 
handle, especially in summer in the swamps. It yields a greater per 
cent of cull, and hi many cases the presence of rot can not be detected 
until the tree has been felled and cut into. It floats heavily, and 
many logs become water-soaked and sink, making the driving very 
difficult. To offset these disadvantages, and to make the use of 
balsam more profitable, its stumpage price should always be lower 
than that of spruce. 
STUMPAGE PRICE AND LOGGING COSTS. 
NEW YORK. 
The ruling price in the Adirondacks for cutting and skidding pulp- 
wood Gong logs) is about $1.50 per cord. In this price the cutting of 
roads is included. The extra cost of resawing the long logs into 
4-foot lengths and piling them along the log road is ordinarily 40 cents 
per cord, and requires, in addition to the regular crew of six men, two 
sawyers on the skidway. The logs, which in such cases are cut into 
lengths that are multiples of 4 — as 12, 16, and 20— are snaked to the 
skidway, where they are sawed into 4-foot sticks and piled. A gang 
of eight men will cut, resaw, and pile from 9 to 12 cords per day. In 
cutting 14-foot lengths a gang of six men will cut and skid from 14 to 
16 cords a day. The price of hauling varies with the distance. For 
two or three trip hauls per day, with 2 to 3 cords per sled, the charge 
is ordinarily SI. 60 per cord. If the distance is short and several trips 
are possible the price is less. The stumpage price is a very variable 
quantity, ranging all the way from $2 to $3.50 per cord. Such pulp- 
wood is supposed to contain, besides spruce, 10 per cent of balsam 
and 10 per cent of hemlock. As a rule, however, the percentage of 
balsam runs much higher. Since balsam pulpwood is hardly ever 
bought by itself, the price could not be determined, but it is probable 
that pure balsam pulpwood would command from 50 cents to $1 
per cord less than the ordinary pulpwood now offered on the market. 
The average cost of driving can hardly be ascertained, being de- 
pendent upon the kind of stream, distance, number of logs, etc. 
MAINE. 
In Maine balsam fir is taken for pulp along with spruce, the only 
requirements being sufficient size and soundness. The scaler culls 
balsam closer than spruce. While a good deal of pulpwood is cut in 
20137°— Bull. 5-3—14 3 
