It may be expected that under proper encouragement the more valuable trees in a stand may be made to increase more rap idly than under unmanaged or mismanaged conditions. While the rings of one decade may measure less than those of a past de cade, the lumber in the larger tree is more valuable. Since different kinds of timber vary in rapidity of growth, the determina tion of one species will not answer for all.
Forestry can be practiced in an almost ideal way on the farm woodlot of five to fifty acres. Unless the quantity to be dis posed of at one time is very small, one should know where the best markets are, the same as he would for other farm products. There are several publications devoted entirely to the lumber business. All large cities are great lumber mar kets. Chicago is a great pine market and St. Louis leads in hard-woods. It is quite possible for the forest owner to post himself on prices and pros pects of market and crops by reading quotations and by correspondence with dealers. If he has a good article, it will sell almost any day. If one firm does not handle the goods he has to dispose of, it will usually direct him to parties that do. Expert advice can be secured for the asking of the official forester of the timber-owner's state or of some other. Such advice is usually given free of charge as long as there is no considerable expense of time and travel incurred. Personal inspection and con sultation may be had at nominal cost. At all events, whatever plan of sale is adopted, the timber-owner should know whether selling for a lump sum, by the thousand, by the acre or by the cord, will bring him the most satisfactory returns.
The portable sawmill has done much to relieve the market of waste material. It is practicable only where there are several hundred thousand feet to be sawed. It should be a means of securing the highest price, since there is no expense of transporting almost worthless material in the form of sawdust and slab. However, what is waste today may be a valuable product tomorrow. There is now a market for both chestnut bark and wood for tannin, thus utilizing the whole tree. The tops of the trees not suitable for saw-timber are used by alcohol plants. In some places sawdust is an article of commerce. The discarded tops and butts of white cedar are now collected and made into shingles as far as the condition of the timber per mits. Half-decayed pine logs and stumps are sawed into four-foot wood and shipped to brick and tile factories, or for use in other industries where wood fuel is preferable to coal. The logs that have lain on the bottom of lakes and streams for a score or more of years,— the remnants of a past harvest,—are now being raised and placed on the market.
Kinds and grades of timber products.
Willows for basketry must be marketed every year, or they become too large and too much branched. The bundles are easily handled and can be loaded on hay-racks like sheaves of grain and hauled to the basket factory or transportation medium. The price to the grower will depend very largely on the quality of crop and prox imity to the place of manufacture. The whips should be two to eight feet long, all of one season's growth. The marketing of this crop differs from that of most others of its class in that there is only one use to which it is put and only basket factories buy the product. There are at present few basket factories in the United States, but since nearly all hand work is required the grower could without much outlay establish his own factory and to a large extent control the market for his crop.
The splint basket mills are less expensive to establish than sawmills and are frequently built at some railway station, where the product can easily be shipped away. The timber is cut into veneers, and all waste is used for fuel to run the machinery. The mills use up the remnants of a stand of tim ber, as the requirements are so moderate that crooked and knotty timber of many species can be profitably employed.
The market for small birch, elm, black ash and hickory poles for half-round split hoops has practi cally passed. There is, however, some demand for hickory and white oak butts, twenty-eight to forty-two inches long and at least four inches in diameter at the small end, for pick and other handles. When trees of these species and others are to be placed on the market, the owners should correspond with the manufacturers of such tools. If these companies can not use the material, they will inform the owner where such materials can be marketed. Small-sized soft-wood trees will find most profitable sale for paper pulp in regions where this material is used. Sticks four inches or more in diameter and four feet long bring three to five dollars per cord delivered at the mill. If not used for pulp they will be in demand for fruit packages. Poplar and basswood in eight-foot lengths are most profitably disposed of for porch columns. Hard-woods and some conifers of better class than for basket stuff—straight trees to twenty-four inches in diameter on the stump,— are now profitably disposed of for piling, and the longer and straighter the better. Even such com mon woods as beech, black ash, maple and tama rack are now used for this purpose, but are not so good as oak and cedar.