FOREST RESEARCH NOTE

4 NORTHEASTERN FOREST EXPERIMENT STATION 

Upper Darby, Pennsylvania 

No, 4.1 

1955 

Returns From A White Pine Woodlot 

Most of the forest land in the white pine region of 

I the Northeast is owned in relatively small blocks or woodlots. The way these many small woodlots are managed can 

affect the forest economy of the entire region. Good forest 

0 management can increase the owner's income and provide more 

and better raw material for the wood processing industries. 

An example of how such woodlots can be managed is 

being shown on the Massabesic Experimental Forest in southwestern Maine. Here an average-size woodlot of 50 acres has 

been under management since 1950. 

On this woodlot there is a merchantable stand on 37 

acres. The rest is either in young unmerchantable stands or 

in swamp land. A survey of the 37 acres in 1950 shoved the 

following volume (in board feet, International k-inch rule) : 

Volume 

Species (Board feet) 

White pine 600,000 

e Hemlock l5,000 

Mixed hardwoods 15 ,000 

Total 630,000 

The average volume per acre on the merchantable area 

then was 17,000 board feet. There was an average of 172 

trees per acre over 5 inches d.b.h. Some 65 of these were 

white pine trees between 10 and 20 inches d.b.h, 

Four annual cuttings have been made on'this woodlot, 

beginning in 1950. The average cut was 15,000 board feet of 

sawlogs and 16 cords of pulpwood. This volume cut is slightly less than the estimated annual growth. About one-fifth 

of the merchantable part of the woodlot mas cut over each 

year. 

1 
No cutting was made in 1954. The 1951, and 1955 harvests will be combined to include a salvage operation made 

necessary by blowdown damage from the 1954 hurricanes. 

Trees cut in the early harvests were the suppressed 

and weak trees, the trees that crowded more desirable stems, 

and a few of the large-crowned weeviled white pines. The 

harvest of such trees develops a forest of increasing productivity. All hardwood trees and the sections of softwood 

trees not merchantable for sawlogs are cut into pulpwood. 

Additional provisions have been made for the development of new stands. Hardwood stumps have been treated with 

chemicals to reduce sprouting. Sapling pines on about 3 

acres have been released. The best of these--about 200 trees 

per acre--were pruned. It has taken an average of 1k days 

and 40 pounds of ammonium sulfamate a year for this kind of 

work. 

The sawlogs and pulpwood were cut and yarded by a 

3-man crew. Besides the usual hand tools, they used l-man 

povler saws, a 30-hp. track-type diesel tractor equipped with 

a boom and winch, and an iron-shod scoot. The trees were all 

cut into sawlog or pulpwood lengths at the stump. 

Table 1.--Outlays and cash income received for annual cuts 

on the experimental woodlot 

hractor costs for fuel, oil, and repairs ran about $1.55 per meter-hour on 

the Ekperimental Forest. One meter-hour is about equal to two running hours. 

2~ased on rates used on the Experimental Forest for operation and repair of 

equipment, as follows: Hand tools, 20 cents per 1,000 board feet or 10 cents per 

cord; tractor accessories (wire rope, boom, and scoot), 30 cents per 1,000 board 

feet or 10 cents per cord; power saws, 60 cents per 1,000 board feet or per cord. 9 

=~t roadside. 

4- 

Year 

average 

Item 

Out lays 

Cutting ........... man-hours .. 71 178 131 72 113 

yardid ........... man-hours 53 .. 184 127 88 113 ....... tractor-hours 21 .. 56 27 18 303 

Equipment use2 ....... dollars .. 14 46 35 21 29 

Receipts 

Volumesold.....Mboardfeet.. 12.7 24.0 12.4 10.0 U.8 

............ cords .. -- 24.3 27.1 12.4 15.9 

Total sale value3 .... dollars .. 292 951 718 479 610 

Year 

1950 1 1951 1 1952 1 1953 
Costs varied each year. But, with an average wage 

rate of $1.10 per hour, the average direct work cost for 

logging was $248.60 a year (table 1). The tractor, the 

power saws, and other' equipment cost $76.28 a year. There 

were no unusual weather or logging conditions to affect the 

work on this woodlot, 

If a forest-land owner had made these cuts, using his 

own equipment and labor, he would have spent about 28 working days a year in logging. Notor fuel, oil, and repairs to 

his equipment would have taken about $76.28. He would also 

have taken another day and a half to work in the young 

stands and would have used about $8.00 worth of chemicals. 

Under these conditions, the woodlot would have brought him a 

cash income of $526.00 a year--nearly $18.00 a day for practicing forestry and improving his property. 

--THOMAS W. McCONKEY 

Northeastern Forest Experiment Station 

Forest Service, U.S. Dept. Agriculture 

Massabesic Ekperimental Forest, Alfred, Maine. 

Agriculture-Forest Service-Upper Darby