16 BULLETIN 55, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
box boards it yields about 10 per cent of material more to the cord 
than does spruce. 
In 59 out of 141 sawmills which answered the circular letter, the use 
of balsam fir in the past few years has not perceptibly increased. 
Thirty-four mills now use from 10 to 40 per cent more than formerly, 
30 mills from 40 to 75 per cent more, 13 mills from 75 to 100 per cent, 
while 2 mills use four times as much as they used three or four years 
ago. Only three mills report that the amount of balsam used by 
them has decreased. 
LUMBERING BALSAM FIR. 
In the Adirondack^, as well as in Maine, New Hampshire, and Ver- 
mont, the methods of cutting balsam and spruce for pulpwood differ 
somewhat from those used in getting out saw logs. Pulpwood is cut 
largely in summer and autumn, and is usually limited to a diameter 
of 8 inches on the stump and to 4 inches in the top. The trees are 
sawed close to the ground, the stump height seldom being over 1 foot. 
The logs are usually cut in lengths of 4 feet. 
ADVANTAGES OF CUTTING INTO 4-FOOT LENGTHS. 
Cutting into 4-foot lengths, when the drive is short and the stream 
shallow, has decided advantages over cutting long logs. The short 
sticks dry better, and for this reason few are lost through sinkage 
during the drive — a loss more common with balsam than with spruce. 
Green balsam logs do not float readily, and on a long drive may 
become water-logged and sink. Balsam logs, apparently sound at 
both ends, often contain rot in the center, and by having them cut into 
short lengths the buyer of pulpwood guards himself against defects. 
The owner of the forest, too, gains by cutting into short lengths, since 
it allows a fuller utilization of each individual tree. Thus, if the mer- 
chantable length of a tree that can be used for pulp is 22 feet, and the 
logs are cut into 12, 14, and 16 foot lengths, the most that could be 
used in such a case is a 16-foot log, leaving the remaining 6 feet to 
waste. On the other hand, by cutting into 4-foot lengths, two-thirds 
of the 6 feet would be turned into useful material. On a large cut 
this sort of waste may be considerable. It is true the short logs in 
the water will not support a man's weight, and so in many places are 
harder to drive, but since they seldom form jams and a smaller volume 
of water is needed to float them, the cost of driving 4-foot sticks for 
short distances is less than the cost of driving long logs. In one 
particular case, by changing the log lengths from 12 feet to 4 feet, the 
cost of driving over the same distance has been reduced from 44 cents 
to 10 cents per cord, besides lessening the loss through sinkage and 
undetected defects. 
