Early in the spring a more extensive plan of field work in the
southeastern portion of the State was adopted. A locality was selected
where the blight is beyond control, and immediate utilization necessary
to avoid serious financial loss. The boundaries of the area selected
were so made that the timber in all of the woodlots in the area could
be handled in much the same way as though the woodlots comprised a
single tract. A map showing the exact location of all of the woodlots
was made, and a field agent detailed to estimate merchantable chestnut
in the form of saw logs, poles, ties, posts and cordwood in each
woodlot. The local market for these products was then ascertained, to
determine whether all timber on the area could be best sold locally
on in outside markets. At the same time the field agent interested
the owners of the woodlots in the prompt removal and utilization of
their chestnut trees before greater loss was occasioned by the blight.
Usually the owner of a considerable quantity of blighted trees is
anxious to follow this course, but the scarcity of competent woodsmen
makes it difficult or impossible. In such cases, the Office of
Utilization presented the data obtained by the field agent to operators
of portable saw mills, stave mills, pole or tie cutters, as the facts
warranted, and as many buyers as possible were interested in locating
on the area. So far as there was time to test this plan, it appears
that this is the cheapest and most effective way of getting results in
the eastern district, since what is desired is to get cutting started
on a sane and profitable basis, and this a mere general method of work
usually fails to accomplish. Success or failure depends on whether or
not buyer and seller can be brought together on a satisfactory basis.
The work must be profitable to both owner and dealer. A competent
and well-informed field agent can work out a comprehensive plan for
disposing of all the merchantable chestnut in a community. Through
his knowledge of prices, rates, specifications, sanitation measures,
etc., he is the means of saving timber owners from much of the loss
occasioned by the blight.