LOGGING xMETHODS 33 
way skidder is used. The favorite method of animal logging is 
to "snake" the timber for short distances, and to move distant 
logs with bummers, high carts, or wagons. When standard 
length logs are handled bummers are a favorite vehicle for the 
shorter distances, and 4-, 6-, or 8-wheeled wagons for long distances. 
High-wheeled carts are preferred for long logs, and are often 
used for short ones on hauls of 800 feet or less. 
Transport. — The almost universal form of long distance trans- 
port of logs from the forest to the mill is by railroad, because of 
the continuous operation of the plant, lack of suitable streams 
for driving, and the hea\'y weight of the timber. Where streams 
are available, floating is practiced to a limited extent by small 
operators; however, the loss from sunken timber is from 25 to 
33 per cent. 
E. CYPRESS 
Period of Logging. — The year round. 
Labor. — The unskilled labor is composed of negroes, Creoles, 
and Mexicans, and the skilled labor of whites. Contract work 
prevails. 
Camps. — Floating camps built on scows are used on pullboat 
operations, and permanent board camps on railroad operations. 
Character of Bottom. — The bottom on many of the swamps is 
covered with water during a portion of the year, although there 
are many "islands" and other extensive areas which are seldom, 
if ever, submerged, where railroad camps may be located. The 
timber grows both on the wet ground and on the higher eleva- 
tions. The bottom is too soft for animal logging. 
Felling and Log-making. — The timber which is girdled or 
deadened some weeks or months in advance of felling and log- 
making is felled and made into logs with the ax and saw. Work- 
men are paid by the log, tree, or thousand board feet cut. A crew 
of two men will fell and make into logs from 7500 to 10,000 feet 
of timber, daily. Timber is cut to a minimum diameter of 8 
inches in the top. 
Skidding. — Two methods are used. 
(1) Pullboat Logging. — A slack-rope skidding device is 
mounted on a scow and moored in a canal, bayou, or lake to 
which logs are dragged for distances of from 3500 to 5000 feet. 
