Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1911-08-31

the old-time lumbermen of Maine and Michi-
gan. Instead, these Pacific coast fellows con-
struct a shelf on the side of the tree to be
felled and at such a height that the chopping
and saving is done at a point at least ten or
twelve feet above ground. The result is, of
course. to leave a huge stump containing
enough material to build a small house. The
lumbermen justify their action by the tradi-
ton that the swell at the base Of one of
these big trees is Of inferior material-pre-
sumably too poor to bother with. However.
most of the expert %foresters of the country
say that this is not true. at least not in the
majority of cases and that this method Of
mutilating timber in the cutting is a flag
rantly wasteful one.
One of the most seriously wasteful methods
of numbering in vogue in the United States
looked at from the standpoint of future gener-
ations-is the practice of taking from a forest
annually an amount of lumber far in excess
of new growth. Obviously this will serve to
either speedily wipe out a forest or else to
render it of little value for many years to
come, whereas it might be made to serve as
a regular and permanent source OF income.
Indeed, this plan of intelligent harvesting of
the timber with reference to the supply OF flu
ture years is what renders so steadily profit
able the admirably con ducted forests of Ger
many and Switzerland.
OF course the American lumberman is en-
gagged in logging as a source OF livelihood ana
his main defense against every charge of
wasteful numbering is that there is so much
timber in proportion to the population that 1t
does not pay, as a business proposition, TO
take any more than the better part OF each
tree felled. UNREASONABLE there is a grain
of truth in this, provided a lumberman is
thinking only Of prosperity in the present gen.
GRAFTON. but at the same time there is much
waste in numbering that is not only unneces-
sary but is actually costly to the lumberman
himself. However, conservative numbering is
making Roadway and is supplanting the old
wasteful methods in many sections OF the
country. The new ideas of conservative lum-
bering are based on three principles. First,
the forest is treated as a working capital the
purpose of which is to produce successive
crops. Second, a systematic working plan is
followed in harvesting the forest crop. Third,
the work in the woods is carried on in such
manner as to leave the standing trees and
the young growth as nearly unframed by the
numbering as is possible. In the sctual oper-
ations of tree telling the new policy calls for
greater care, SO that no tree trunk may be
split or broken in falling and likewise are
there precautions so that the bark of valuable
standing trees will not be rubbed or torn by
the tree trunks that are being "skidded" out
of the forest. Finally a ban has been placed
on the wasteful practice Of cutting promising
young trees for corduroy or skids simply be.
cause these happen to be convenient and are
straight. Under the old plan the waste does
not end when a log gets to the saw mill.
There is a further loss of nearly all the slabs
and edgings and all the sawdust not used for
fuel, SO that it is doubtful II more than half
Of the cubic contents of the standing tree is
finally used.