of the views expressed by Mr. Agar. I refer to those where he states his reasons for the policy of the purchase of lands for the forest preserve. I think the reasons he enumerates are public reasons, of course,-not private,--but he has stated the public reasons in a clearly and easily understood manner, and, on behalf of this Association, I thank Mr. Agar for the preparation of this paper; and you, Dr. Hall, for coming here to read it to us. This afternoon the press of time compelled us to postpone the reading of a paper by Professor Chandler on the "Progress Report on Hardwood Utilization Study." Professor Chandler has been making a study of that subject in Northern New York, and hardwood utilization is a matter of practical interest to all of us who own woodlands in the Adirondacks,-intensely practical at this particular time, and I am sure we will all listen with interest to his paper. I now take pleasure in introducing Professor Chandler. (Applause.) PROGRESS REPORT ON PROF. B. A. CHANDLER CORNELL UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR B. A. CHANDLER: Mr. Toastmaster and Gentlemen: I come here tonight not simply as a forester who has been studying a problem that perhaps many of you have studied, but also as a son of a lumberman and one who has been connected with and is much interested in the lumberman's point of view; in fact one who is entirely in sympathy with the economic laws and ideas that lumbermen have. My own people are still in the lumber business. I am still financially interested in it, to some extent, and, in fact, I am "a maniac from Maine"-(Laughter)—whose folks are lumbermen. I think any of us who were here this morning and this afternoon have no doubts whatever about the hardwood problem being one of the most vital and most difficult and most interesting problems that the lumberman and forester of the Adirondacks has to do with. We have all seen that the hardwood slash, resulting from logging under present market conditions, presents a very difficult situation. When the spruce was cut for the markets that existed ten, twenty, thirty, forty or fifty years ago, only a part of the stand was taken out, and the slash left was comparatively insignificant as far as future production and fire protection was concerned, because the hardwood and remaining spruce left a stand that would reproduce itself to something, was not a serious fire menace and was dense enough to satisfy all the recreation purposes that have been enumerated in the paper which has just been read. Today the markets are good enough so that a large percentage of the trees can be cut in connection with a hardwood operation leaving about fifty per cent of the area covered with slash-covered with the tops and brush. But the utilization is not as complete as we would like to have it. Much of the slash consists of tops which are considered unmerchantable. If these tops could be utilized it would obviously effect a saving of material, possibly reduce the cost to consumers, and would greatly lessen the fire menace, and leave a better and cleaner area for both natural and artificial reproduction. Furthermore, we would get more material over which to distribute our overhead expense, and we would be able to handle our timberlands so that a given area would furnish material for our mills for a longer period of years. Any real economic saving ought to come back to the consumer in the form of cheaper material after the stumpage owner and the manufacturer have made their profits. Now finding a market is not enough for we must make sure that it is a permanent and a profitable market. PROFITABLE MARKET ESSENTIAL I am very much in sympathy and agree absolutely with the saying of old Doctor Schenck to the effect that it is a shame to leave material in the woods to rot, but it is a bigger shame to waste money in bringing that material out. Consequently, in considering any use that we find for this material, we must first find a profitable market. We are not going to manufacture simply for the sake of manufacturing. Now then that brings us down to a concrete statement of the problem which I am studying; which is to determine whether or not we can find a profitable market for the material which is now being left in stumps and tops, and whether or not we can reorganize our cutting in such a way as to save some of that material, with our present markets. Individual operators have realized this, but from the nature of their business have not been able to devote to the problem the study which it demands. It is clearly a case for careful investigation by someone who can approach the matter from an objective standpoint. The locality selected for beginning such a study was one in which the logging and milling operations are close together. STATEMENT OF PROBLEM The problem divides itself into three parts or sub-problems, each of which is a distinct problem in itself: 1. To determine the amount and the character of the 3. To determine the present and probable future market Now I don't need to tell you gentlemen that the last two of those problems are real problems. There is some saying to the effect that "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread," and the man that undertakes the solution of those problems, that approaches their solution in a flippant manner, is certainly rushing in in a foolish way. The looking up of cost figures, as I think we will see later, is no small problem. STUDY WASTE IN WOODS Now then, as to getting at the amount and character of the material that is left in the woods, we have proceeded in this way. I have a printed form here-I wish it were larger, so you could all see it (exhibiting printed form). It is only the measurements of an individual tree. The trees are measured consecutively, as they lie in the woods, after they are felled by the felling crew and before the logs are separated by the skidding crew. Thus we get the logs and the tops as they lie together and individual trees which happen to show some particularly interesting feature that would lead a man to measure them are not measured except in their turn. Also the figures obtained are true averages and can be converted into percentage figures. Figures taken on a tree here and a tree there would not snow those true percentage figures. Now then, on each tree the stump height, diameter both inside and outside the bark, the length of each log and the diameter at the top end of each log inside the bark, is recorded as it was cut. If it is determined that there is no merchantable material or no material which is possibly merchantable in the top that is left, or in the stump,-in other words if it is determined that the stump was cut as low as it could be,-that the logs in that tree were divided in such a way as to produce all the material that was in them, and the top is all utilized, the tree is simple marked "O. K." and no more measurements are taken on it. If, on the other hand, any of those things have occurred, that is, if it is found that a more intelligent cutting of the stump or closer utilization of the top, or a more careful division of the logs in that tree would have produced more valuable material, the tree is re-measured. The stump is re-measured just above the root swelling, where it should have been cut, the length and top diameters inside the bark of each log as it should have been cut are measured and the additional logs in the top, if there are any, are added. Any short two or four feet sections are added in by changing log lengths. Waste sections are recorded as logs, but omitted from the scale. So we get two measurements: one as it was cut, and one the possible merchantable cut for markets we hope to find. Besides these measurements, the grade notes are taken on all material added to what was actually used. For example, if the stump was cut too high notes are taken of the character of the heart of that stump, and the character and width of the sap, and presence of any surface defects, limbs or crooks. So that, from the notes as taken, we can tell whether that stump had a license to be high or whether it should have been cut low. EXAMPLES OF MEASUREMENTS I happen to have one sheet here, which shows that the heart of this stump was sound, except on one side, where it had a slight defect. There were three inches of clear sap on that stump, and no surface defects. Also the stump would have gone onto the base log and made a perfectly straight log. For each log added at the top the same notes are taken. On this particular sheet we added an 18-foot log at the top; 10 inches in diameter. [This one happens to be a beech. On one birch tree 117 per cent. more than was actually used should have been saved, according to present standards.] This beech log had a sound, clear heart; 2.5 inches of clear sap; and on its 18 feet length there were six 2-inch limbs that were sound and two 2-inch limbs that had rotted a little. The crook in that top was slight. Those comparative terms don't mean much to the individual unless he has the associations of the man that is making the record. I am marking crook "slight" or "medium," and if more than medium I am taking notes as to how bad it is. That is the "bow-string." If it has a crook here (indicating) and a string stretched from end to end of the crook, a 6-inch crook would show 6 inches as greatest distance between log and string. Only crooks which are so slight that they can not be measured in inches, are called slight or medium. In other words, I have tried to take as accurately as possible exact notes upon the amount and the character of the material that is being left in stumps and tops. This gives us a little idea of the method. RESULTS TO DATE I have only collected a small amount of data-about 200 trees in all, so far. All of those are not computed, but some are. I have worked those up in terms of percentage of volume over and above that actually used which could have been brought in. I have taken |