100 LOGGING 
woody structure adapts itself to the gradual shrinkage with a 
minimum amount of checking. Some loggers apply a coat of 
thick whitewash to hardwood logs to prevent end checking. 
Others use a preparation composed of one part lamp black to 
sixty parts of rosin. The mixture should be heated but not boiled, 
then thoroughly stirred, and a coat 1/8 inch thick applied. 
These preparations should not be applied until the moisture 
has ceased to ooze from the log. 
DEADENING 
Deadening or girdling consists in cutting a ring around the tree 
deep enough to penetrate to the heart wood. This ring is made 
just above the root swelling, approximately at the sawing point. 
The deadening of trees reduces the water content of the boles 
and renders them lighter in weight. It is seldom resorted to 
with most species, because those which cannot be floated when 
cut in the ordinary way are either left standing or are hauled 
by rail to the mill. Green cypress timber does not float well, 
hence deadening or girdling is universal when timber is floated 
to the mill. Even when cypress timber is railroaded it is 
usually girdled because (1) the logs will then float in the 
mill pond, (2) the sapwood is rendered somewhat tougher and 
skidding tongs do not pull out so readily, and (3) the heartwood 
in green timber swells during cutting and binds the saw. 
Logging in cypress swamps is carried on throughout the year 
and some girdle timber at any convenient time, although the 
sapwood is more subject to insect attacks at certain seasons. 
The greatest damage occurs during the months from May to Sep- 
tember, inclusive^ Girdling precedes felling from a few weeks 
to several months and generally is done by contract for a given 
sum per tree. One man will girdle about twenty-five trees per 
day. 
DIRECTION OF FALL 
This should be governed by the following factors : 
(1) The lean of the tree. A straight or slightly leaning tree 
may be sawed to fall in any direction by the use of wedges. 
Heavily leaning trees can be thrown by the same means in any 
* Hopkins, A. D.: Pinhole Injury to Girdled Cypress in the South Atlantic 
States. U. S. Bureau of Entomology, Cir. No. 82, 1907. 
