WASTE IN LOGGING SOUTHERN YELLOW PINE.

By J. GiRViN PETERS,

Forest Assistant^ Forest Service.

INTRODUCTION.

The total stand of southern yellow pine was recently estimated at about 300,000,000,000 board feet. This is in excess, however, of estimates by the best posted southern lumbermen. Therefore it is probable that the present stand of southern yellow pine can scarcely exceed this amount. The annual cut is practically 10,000,000,000 board feet, and there is every reason to believe that this will increase. It is fairly safe, then, to conclude that within twenty-five years southern yellow pine will have almost ceased to be an important com- mercial commodity.

Yellow pine stumpage twenty years ago was worth not over 50 cents a thousand; it is held to-day at from $2 to $5, the average value prob- ably being $3. Twenty years ago timber land in the South brought $1.25 to $5 per acre; to-day it brings from $10 to $30. The history of the white pine in the Lake States is repeating itself in yellow pine in the South.

Deductions from actual measurements have shown that the timber- land owner in the South generally is not enforcing as full utilization of his timber as is possible. The result is that not only is he losing the stumpage value of the timber not utilized, but he is also hastening the time when his timber supply shall become exhausted, a time at which its stumpage value would probably have greatly increased.

CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH LOGGING IS CARRIED ON.

In general, logging is carried on under one of the following condi- tions:

(1) Land and timber owned, and the timber logged and milled, by one and the same party.

(2) Land and timber owned by one party, timber logged under con- tract by a second party, and milled by the first party.

(3) Land and timber owned by one party, stumpage bought, and timber logged and milled by a second party.

As a rule there is a marked increase in waste in logging from con- dition 1 to condition 3, because where the owner of the timber land is

483

484 YEABBOOK OF THE DEPABTMENT OF AGEICULTUEE.

the lumberman it pays him to saw any grade of lumber that will show a profit over the cost of manufacture; but where the buyer of the stumpage is the lumberman the stijjupage price is reckoned along with the cost of manufacturing, and upon the existence of a low or high stumpage price depends whether it is practicable for the lumberman to saw low-grade top logs or only the clear length of a tree.

CONDITIOÎ^S STUDIED IN THE PRESENT ARTICLE.

The bulk of southern yellow pine is in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. In the latter two States material for a special study of waste in logging was,gathered by the Forest Service in the winter of 1904. Measurements were taken on 347 sample areas on the cuttings of a large lumber company, which furnished an excellent example of con- ditions favorable to wasteful logging. The aggregate of these 347 sample areas was 335.5 acres, located on 8 recent cuttings, from which the tram spurs had been taken up. It was impossible, therefore, that any more timber could be logged from the land.

The logging operations fall under the third of the conditions speci- fied above. The timber was owned by a land company, which sold the stumpage to a lumber company at $4 per thousand feet. In this region the cost of producing lumber, including cutting and hauling of logs to the mill, sawing and handling, depreciation of mill plant, etc., was about $8 a thousand. The total cost of the product ready for shipment was therefore about $12 a thousand.

The lumber company paid a very high stumpage price; the land company exercised no supervision in the woods over the cutting of its timber. The natural result was that practically nothing was taken from the woods which, though merchantable, would not show a profit over its total cost. In this case it meant a waste of the resources of the seller, and careless logging by the buyer; waste, because a large amount of merchantable timber was cut and left in the woods; careless logging, because a large number of small trees were indiscriminately cut for use in logging or were knocked down by falling timber, which is merely another form of waste—a waste of future supply. (PI. LVI,fig. 2.)

The lack of supervision by the land company and the high stump- age price paid by the lumber company go hand in hand as the two great factors to which the waste may be attributed. The result of the absence in the woods of a representative of the land company is best illustrated by the large amount of merchantable timber left behind in the tops of logged trees. The stumpage price has a direct bearing on this form of waste. It will be remembered that this price was $4 per thousand feet, and that in consequence the total cost to the lumber company was about $12 a thousand. The value of the lumber that the top logs would saw out would average, as shown further on, about $10

WASTE IN LOGGING SOUTHERN YELLOW PINE. 485

a thousand. Although this cost of production is an average price merely, and does not indicate that each additional thousand feet of lumber entails an added expenditure of the full f 12, sin(3e the expenses incident to lumbering the area as a whole have been already incurred, it is plain that the higher the cost the less the incentive to the lumber company to utilize low-grade material. In other words, the company would not have been out of pocket $2 per thousand in consequence of taking lumber which would bring only $10 per thousand, in spite of the fact that the average cost of production, including such items as taxes, construction of plant and railways, etc., is $12 per thousand; but the fact that for every thousand that was taken the lumber com- pany would have to pay $4 in stumpage, and would therefore have only 16 left to defray the expense of handling and milling this low- grade timber, would decidedly discourage its use, since it would yield very little profit aud might involve a loss. The owner, however, loses the stumpage price, |4, for every thousand feet in-the woods. Here is where supervision would make itself felt. It is to the interest of the seller of the stumpage to see that all of the tree which can be con- verted into lumber is paid for.

PART-MERCHANTABLE CULLS AND TREES DESTROYED.

A feature markedly in evidence after logging is the number of part- merchantable culls—trees left as culls by the sawyers, but which would yield a merchantable log. Measurements on over 300 acres show that more than 6 per cent of the trees standing after logging consist of part-merchantable culls. These are generally big trees, containing in the butt cut rarely less than 200 board feet of sound timber, and being in some instances over 40 inches in diameter on the stump, so that the lumber from even one log of such trees would unquestionably cover the expense of handling them. Moreover, these part-merchantable culls, if left standing, will probably be absolute culls by the time of the next cutting. The safest plan to insure the utilization of culls about which there is any doubt as to their mer- chantable contents is to cut every one of merchantable size—10 inches and over on the stump—and where the sawyers are paid by the thou- sand feet cut and not by the day, to allow them at least the number of feet in the butt cut of every cull felled. Where this plan is adhered to it is a paying one.

A large number of trees are knocked down, badly broken and splint- ered by falling timber, or are cut for skid poles, cut as ''bed trees," across which to fell other trees in order to obtain a good "fall" and so prevent the saw from pinching, or cut merely to get them out of the way. Most of these trees are below 10 inches on the stump, and hence unmerchantable, though measurements show 58 per cent of them to be

486 YEAKBOOK OF THE DEPAKTMENT OF AGKICULTURE.

fairly fast-growing sap trees, which should be the basis for a future stand. Measurements further show that of the total number of sap trees which might have been left standing after logging, 25 per cent, or one-fourth, were broken, knocked down, uprooted, or in some way incapacitated for future growth by careless logging.

On one of the cuttings investigated the trees are "spotted," or marked, for removal, thereby insuring the cutting of every tree about which there is any doubt as to its being above or below the diameter limit. The value of marking timber with respect to part-merchantable culls alone is unquestionable, since figures show that where timber is marked practically none of this class is left standing. The conclusions, then, are that—

(1) Some merchantable timber is left standing which will in all proba- bility become cull by the next cutting, and should therefore be cut now.

(2) A great many small, growing sap trees are destroyed by careless logging.

(3) The best results are obtained by spotting or marking the timber for removal.

MERCHANTABLE TIMBER LEFT ON THE GROUND.

A very large part of the waste in logging is represented by mer- chantable timber left on the ground in tops, broken and knocked-down trees, right-of-way trees, bed trees, sound logs cut but not skidded, and windfalls with sound heart. By far the greatest part of this waste is contained in tops. Frequently in cutting long logs for bill stock only one log is cut from a tree where it is possible to cut a second and even a third log. For instance, from a tree 20 inches on the stump, a 36-foot log was cut, 12 inches in diameter at the top end. The remainder of this tree would have yielded a merchantable log 40 feet long and 9 inches at the top, scaling, according to the Doyle Log Rule, 62 board feet. From another tree, 21 inches on the stump, a 34-foot log, 14 inches at the top, was cut. What was left of this tree would have yielded a merchantable log 40 feet long and 10 inches in diameter at the top, scaling 90 feet. (See PI. LVII.)

The estimate here given of the amount of such timber wasted is unquestionably conservative. The practical value of such figures, however, rests entirely upon the fact that the timber is merchantable. Only timber which would have produced reasonably straight and perfectly sound logs was taken into account. Red-heart timber is exceedingly common, and, owing to the prevalence of so-called blink punks and to the bleaching of red heart exposed to the sun, which makes the rot difficult to detect, the woodsmen employed to take the measurements were required, wherever there was the slightest doubt as to the soundness of any piece of timber, to chop into the particular piece at the spot supposedly affected. Also, only timber was taken

FIG. 1.—VIRGIN STAND OF SOUTHERN YELLOW PINE. FIG. 2.—SNAGS OF TREES KNOCKED DOWN BY FALLING TIMBER.

[The larger tree i.s 10 iiiehes on the »tump. That part of it lying on the ground, after being butted of splinters at the end, will eut a .sound log 2« feet long and 9 in<'hes at the top, eontaining 41 hoard feet.]

Yearbook U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, 1905. PLATE LVII.

Kffii i.-^*1 1 ^^^^^H^^^^^^H^ T^ ■ I^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^B^H^B ̂ ^ H ^^^n^^^^^mipfB^^^i i^ EHH^BP|P^^^^^'*^~- . . ' ' '' ^fli^^^d^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 1

^ _J^--- ̂ ^ ^^aflP^'^^^Ht ^^^^^^BHEF ^°«IIIH HH ̂ ■1 P^BWK<r?j^^^r^--" ■■^I^B^^^^^y ' ^^Éi^to B B

FIG. 1.—SPECIMEN TOP LOG LEFT AFTER LOGGING. IT WILL CUT A LOG 40 FEET

LONG AND 10 INCHES AT THE TOP END, YIELDING 90 BOARD FEET.

FIG. 2.—MERCHANTABLE TIMBER LEFT IN TOPS AFTER LOGGING. CUT HERE.

BILL STOCK WAS

WASTE IK LOGGING SOUTHERN YELLOW PINE. 487

into account from which could have been cut at least a 12-foot log with a diameter at the small end not less than 8 inches, and then only provided no branches were included which would exceed 5 inches in diameter. These specifications were adopted because the smallest mer- chantable yellow-pine log must be not less than 8 inches in diameter at its top end, nor less than 12 feet in length, and because a knot over 4^^ inches in diameter will make of a yellow-pine board a cull, and a branch 5 inches in diameter outside the bark will make about a 4i-inch knot.

The lumber company, however, practically regards 16 feet as the shortest merchantable log length, since it handles no 12-foot and hardly any 14-foot lengths.

To be especially conservative in estimating this waste, 16 feet has been assumed as the shortest merchantable log length. The results from measurements on 318.5 cut-over acres show that the average loss per acre was equivalent to 13 logs, each 22.8 feet long and 9.8 inches in diameter at the top, containing 667 board feet by the Her- ring rule. This figure, 667 board feet per acre, represents the amount of timber which could have been saved to the land company by eflS- cient supervision of the logging.

Though at the time the measurements were made, in January, 1904, the shortest merchantable length was generally regarded throughout Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas as 16 feet, 12-foot lengths were cut in some few localities, and they are certainly merchantable. Had lengths as short as 12 and 14 feet been assumed as merchantable the average waste per acre would be 962 board feet in 19 logs 19.6 feet long and 10.1 inches in diameter at the small end; or, in other words, with 12 and 14 foot lengths accounted for, 6 more logs could have been gotten per acre, containing 295 board feet.

Absolute proof that this timber was merchantable could have been had only by cutting the logs from the tops, etc., getting them to a mill, and sawing them into lumber. This, however, was not feasible, if for no other reason than the removal of the tramways. Therefore, a cutting^ was selected on another tract in the same region, where logs were being cut at least as far into the tops as those measured on the land company's tract.

On this cutting the logs of 1,405 trees were scaled in the woods, and each log was so marked that when it reached the mill it could be iden- tified and the lumber cut from it could be graded directly from the saw. Enough of these logs were followed through the mill and the lumber graded to furnish complete results for 722 trees. The top logs from 185 of these 722 trees were selected as representing the lowest grade and as being practically identical with the logs scaled as waste on the land company's tract as to both grade and size. The amount of lum- ber by grades which these logs sawed out and the market value of the lumber of each grade at the prices current in March, 1904, is given in detail below. As was to be expected, the bulk of the lumber, or

488 YEAEBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.

nearly 90 per cent, graded into common boards and dimension, the greater part of which went into No. 1 common dimension.

Amount and market value of the graded long-leaf pine lumber sawed from-185 top logs.

Grade. Per cent. Board feet.

Market value.

Heart timbers 4.38 .06 .04

4.28 1.12 6.36 1.03 .21 .17

67.86 14.49

529 7 5

517 135 769 125 26 21

8,203 1,751

85.29 -.11 .07

6.20 1.15 8.46 1.12 .57 .42

82.03 14.45

A flat flooring B flat flooring .... 1 C flat flooring 2 C flat flooring.. 1 common boards 2 common boards. : Clear finish Star finish . . 1 common dimension 2 common dimension

Total 100.00 12,088 119.87

9.92 Average value per M board

feet

From the above table, then, it appears that the market value of the lumber sawed from these top logs averages $9.92 per 1,000 feet. The practical question for the company was, therefore, could it afford to manufacture this lumber which it can sell for only $9.92?

It may be said in this connection that the course which market prices have taken since the spring of 1904 has been such as to dispel all doubts as to whether such lumber as the above is worth taking. Many lum- ber companies in the southern pine belt which would not saw top logs two years ago are now using their trees far up into the limbs. The excuse for waste in logging is now less than ever ^before. Neverthe- less, the essential fact remains that the higher the stumpage price the less is the incentive to a lumber company to take the lower grades, and the greater the importance to the tiniberland owner of protecting his interests by specifying for utilization of all merchantable timber and by providing for adequate inspection to enforce observance of con- tract terms. Lumber companies which are operating on their own lands are much less likely to leave good timber in the woods, though even here the conservatism of established custom tends to retard the use of up-to-date methods; but the seller of stumpage must expect to lose if he does not require the purchaser to pay for all merchantable timber left on the ground through wasteful logging.

The conclusions in regard to merchantable timber left on the ground in tops, etc., are that^—

(1) The amount of waste, if 16 feet is assumed as the shortest merchantable log length, was 667 feet per acre; if 12 feet, 962 per acre.

(2) The market value of the lumber which this waste would saw out was $9.92 per 1,000 feet.

WASTE IK LOGGING SOUTHERN YELLOW PINE. 489

WASTE IN HIGH STUMPS.

The fixation of stump heights is, in any case, purely arbitrary, for the object is simply to have the small trees as well as the large trees cut as reasonably low as possible. It is believed that a stump height of 24 inches for sound trees 24 inches and over on the stump at 2 feet above the ground, and of 18 inches for sound trees under 24 inches on the stump, would in this particular case have given the best results. On this basis the waste in cutting high stumps on the land company's tract was calculated. It appeared that the average stump height for trees 24 inches and over on the stump was 29 inches; for trees under 24 inches on the stump, 27 inches; and that this represented a loss of 218 board feet per acre, or 1.85 per cent of the total yield.

It is significant that the largest lumber companies in the South are now beginning to cut low stumps, usually 24 inches high, against 30 to 36 inches formerly, realizing thereby a slight profit not only in the quantity of lumber saved, but especially in its quality. However, where no discrimination is exercised in cutting low stumps, this profit will decrease proportionately with the increase of trees with damaged butts. Only sound-butted trees will yield a profit on low stumps. What is supposed to be gained in the woods by cutting trees with damaged butts too low is lost in the mill at the trimmer, where the original length may be reduced by at least 2 feet. The indiscriminate cutting of low stumps is especially impractical when a mill is sawing bill stock, logs of specified lengths being cut in the woods to fill a particular order. The stumps measured were separated into three classes—(1) sound, (2) pitchy, and (3) doty or rotten. Of the stumps on 333.5 acres, 7.4 per cent were pitchy; 4.8 per cent doty. There were, then, 87.8 per cent of sound stumps, which could have been cut on an average 4 to 13 inches lower, thereby saving 218 board feet per acre to the land company.

A pitchy stump results from a scar, and fire is usually the agent which makes the scar. In the natural healing process a copious exu- dation of pitch from the wound takes place, in consequence of which the wood becomes pitch-streaked to a depth proportionate with the size of the scar. *This condition produces what are ordinarily known to the loggers as rich, fat, or pitchy stumps, so common on burned areas. Fire-scarred timber saws out most of the pitch-streaked lumber culled at the mill. As a prominent lumberman expressed it, " Every tree with a defective butt is a separate proposition, about which no hard and fast rule as to a low stump can be laid down."

The conclusion, then, is that a low stump height should be enforced in the case of all sound-butted trees, and that this will result in an appreciable gain to both the land company and the lumber company— to the one from an increase in the amount of timber, to the other more especially from the high quality of lumber thus secured.

490 YEARBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.

USE OF SKID POLES.

A large number of young trees, 5 to 8 inches in diameter, are cut for skid poles. Where logs are loaded by a cross-haul team, ground skids are essential. For this purpose inferior and unhealthy trees should be selected in preference to thrifty, growing trees. The basis for a future yield must be the growing trees which remain standing after logging. Therefore, indiscriminate cutting of small trees will tend to diminish the future yield. The number of skid poles was counted on several switches of varying lengths. The result is shown in detail in the following table, the feature of which is the high percentage of sap poles. The terms "sap" and ''heart" used in the table refer respectively to thrifty, growing trees, and to unhealthy or matured slow-growing trees. When standing they are distinguished entirely by the appearance of the bark, which in the former is loose, exfoliat- ing, and furrowed; in the latter, comparatively smooth and tight. ''Sap" and "heart" are terms perfectly intelligible to the logger, and have been used as the best means of distinguishing between what should and what should not be cut for skid poles.

Skid poles cut for 8.^8 miles of switches^ through southern pine forest yielding about 10^000 hoard feet per acre.

Class of pole.

Number of poles.

Percent- age of each class.

For en- tire

length of switches.

Per mile.

Per section.

Sap 885 484 39

107 58 5

28 351 641

63 34

3 Heart Cull

Total 1,408 170 1,020 100

Of the total number of sap trees destroyed by logging, it was found that about one-fifth were cut for skid poles.

The number of skid poles required varies with the amount of timber cut. If a section of land will require 6 miles of tramway, the above table shows that upward of a thousand skid poles are necessary. It is possible to check up this estimate—a conservative one—as follows: If the average acre yields 10,000 board feet, the whole section will yield 6,400,000 feet. One skidway is allowed to about every 12,000 board feet logged ; if two skid poles are allowed to a skidway, the total number of poles per section is 1,066, which is practically the same as the number shown in the above table. This estimate is very con- servative, for often third and fourth poles of 2 to 3 inches in diameter are placed alongside the larger poles to ease the skidding cart over the latter.

WASTE IN LOGGING SOUTHERN YELLOW PINE. 491

Where a steam loader operates no ground skids are necessary, for the loader can pick up logs from the ground or from a skidway with equal ease. Where, however, it is impossible to load the logs until some time after cutting, skid poles are desirable to prevent them com- ing in contact with the ground, owing to the possible bluing of the sapwood which might occur.

It might appear feasible to haul the poles from an old switch and relay them on a new one, thus keeping the same skids in use continu- ously. Such, however, is not the case, for the reason that the skid- ways are filled with logs before the track is laid.

To conclude, in the use of skid poles, dead, dying, and deformed trees and those trees distinguished by the loggers as heart trees, also hardwoods where available, should be used in preference to thrifty sap trees, which are important for the future stand.

CORDUROY.

During the rainy season in the Gulf States, beginning about Novem- ber and continuing usually through March, the ground is more or less soft and boggy, with the result that in many localities logging is extremely difficult, so that corduroying is indispensable. Small trees of about 3 to 8 inches in diameter are used for this purpose. They are cut into 12-foot lengths and laid crosswise and close together on the right of way. This gives the ties a solid floor to rest on, and so keeps the rails above the surface of the bog.

In selecting corduroy, as in selecting small trees for skid poles, absolutely no discretion, as a rule, is exercised. A thrifty sap tree and a dead tree stand equal chances of being cut. The rule already laid down concerning the use of sap and heart trees for skid poles is equally applicable here. Moreover, since in many cases sawyers begin felling the timber along a tramway at about the time it is being graded, it would be entirely possible to use the tops of the trees as corduroy, provided they were of a desirable size; and wherever hard- woods are available, as where the right of way crosses a hardwood bottom, conservative logging would compel their use.

For corduroy, then, available hardwoods, tops of pine cut for saw logs, or heart trees, as described under skid poles, should be used, and the cutting of thrifty sap trees for the purpose should be discouraged.

WINDFALLS AND GIRDLED TREES.

In some instances no windfalls are taken from the forest, even though the heartwood is perfectly sound. Windfalls, as a rule, are fairly large trees, in which the percentage of sapwood is small. The sapwood will probably have blued or rotted; but if the heart is sound and at least 8 inches in diameter at the top of a merchantable length, there is certainly no good reason for leaving a windfall in the woods.

492 YEARBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.

There occur in clumps over some areas trees girdled and killed by insects. The sapwood of such trees has usually blued and soured, but the heart in many cases is sound and not bored as yet by secondary insects. These trees, though as a rule containing merchantable timber, are rarely cut. Left standing, they act as breeding places for insects and induce further depredations. For the most part, the affected trees are over 10 inches in diameter on the stump, and consequentl}^ of merchantable size. They should by all means be felled, provided a merchantable log can be gotten at least 16 feet long showing 8 inches of sound heart at the top end.

What has just been stated in regard to insect-killed trees applies also to trees girdled by the guy cables of a steam skidder, compara- tively few of which, however, are left standing after logging.

BRIDGE TIMBER.

The number of bridges in tramway construction will vary with the topography of the country, A bridge rarely requires less than 1,000 feet B. M. of timber, and therefore some discretion in selecting the timber is perfectly reasonable. It does not pay to handle logs which have been put into bridge work, for the reason that the outlay incurred in dislodging the upper tiers of stringers and fillers and in snaking the logs out of difficult depressions is prohibitive. To use cull logs, then, is the practical alternative. The large number of trees affected by red heart insures the availability of cull timber in almost every locality.

Seven bridges were selected indiscriminately for investigation. The smallest contained 468 feet of sound timber^ the largest 6,455 feet. Of the total number of logs used in constructing the seven bridges, 82 per cent were sound and clear, containing an average of 2,624 feet per bridge.

The lumber which could be sawed from these logs would bring an average price of at least $15 per 1,000 feet. If the total cost to pro- duce the lumber is $12 per 1,000 feet, the net loss to the lumber com- pany is $3 for each 1,000 board feet of sound timber in bridges where it is possible to use cull timber; the loss to the land company is the stumpage rate, or $4 per 1,000 feet.

CONCLUSION.

A set of rules is given below, embodying the specific conclusions reached in this discussion of waste in logging yellow pine, the strict enforcement of which will be essential to the success of clean logging. These rules assume, however, that a diameter limit has been adopted below which trees shall not be cut, and that the trees to be cut will be " spotted," or marked, for cutting. Otherwise the cost of marking

WASTE IK LOGGING 80ÜTHEEN YELLOW PINE. 493

as specified in the rules would be prohibitive. In the past the Forest Service has found in preparing working plans for yellow-pine lands that, in the interest of forest management for future crops, a diameter limit in the neighborhood of 18 inches is usually advisable. The subject of waste in logging, however, is one which deserves attention on its own merits, and has been discussed in the present article entirely independently of the question of management. Yet it must be said that the full use even of the present forest naturally goes hand in hand with plans for the full use of the forest as a permanently productive resource.

RULES FOE THE PREVENTION OF WASTE IN LOGGING YELLOW PINE.

(1) The following classes of timber to be "spotted," or marked, for cutting:

(a) All red-heart trees 10 inches and over on the stump. (b) All insect-killed trees which will yield a merchantable log. (G) All trees needed for skid poles, corduroy, and bridges, the

removal of which is necessary. (2) All trees to be cut which are marked. (3) No sound trees below the diameter limit to be cut for "bed"

trees. (4) The lengths of logs to be so varied that the merchantable timber

•in every down tree shall be utilized up to that point in the top where the ^diameter is 8 inches. Any such timber left in the woods shall be scaled under direction of the logging superintendent and paid for by the purchaser at double the stumpage price.

(5) Sound trees 24 inches and over in diameter on the stump at 2 feet above the ground, neither cat-faced by fire nor hollow-butted, to be cut not higher than 24 inches from the ground; sound trees under 24 inches on the stump to be cut not higher than 18 inches from the ground. Stumps of trees with hollow butts, or butts made pitchy or "fat" from fire or other injuries, to be cut high enough to avoid all or as much of the defect as possible. It should be the duty of the timber spotter to mark each tree at its proper stump height, that is, 24 inches from the ground for trees 24 inches and over on the stump, and 18 inches from the ground for trees under 24 inches on the stump, and to mark trees with defective butts so as to avoid all or as much of the defect as possible.

(6) No sap trees to be cut for skid poles until the nearby supply of heart trees and culls shall have been exhausted. Hardwoods to be cut for skid poles wherever available.

(7) No pine to be cut for ground skids where a steam loader is operating.

(8) Available hardwoods, tops of pine, heart trees, or culls to be used for corduroy.

494 YEAKBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.

(9) Windfalls and girdled trees which will yield a merchantable log to be utilized.

(10) Red-heart timber, if available, to be used for stringers, caps, or fillers in bridge construction.

(11) Care to be used in the felling, so that trees below the diameter limit will not be broken or badly injured. Stubs or snags of broken trees to be cut where they will yield a merchantable log.

(12) The decision of the logging superintendent to be final in the execution of these rules.