This is a couple of loads of good walnut logs. They were cut in Illinois and trucked to Indiana to be manufactured into veneer and lumber.
Dr. Colby has asked me if I had any methods of getting rid of stumps. We have worked for five years and we still haven't a method that is economical or easy. We recommend grubbing or burning them out with a small stove, or you can cut them close to the ground and let them rot out. What about the chemicals?—We have worked for a good many years and we have bored stumps until our arms ached, but we haven't found any of them that work.
Discussion
MEMBER: 300 board feet per acre per year?
MR. WALTERS: I said we felt that on good soil and by encouraging nature we can grow that volume.
MEMBER: What are the stumpage prices?
MR. WALTERS: Ranging from about $10.00 per thousand board feet to $300. There is quite a span and each grade is different. There is a prime grade, which is the best grade, which must be 16 inches in diameter at the small end at least. Each company has a little different set of grades. Even with the same grade the prices will range according to the size of the log. Maybe a 16 inch prime log may be worth $200 per thousand board feet and 24 inch will be $300.
MR. CRAIG: Curly walnut would be worth more?
MR. WALTERS: Yes. It is somewhat of a guess as to whether a tree will have a curly figure. If you let them take the bark off a tree, the buyers can tell. I know of one beautiful stump on which the buyer wanted permission to remove part of its bark to see if it had nubby growth. If it had had the figure, it would have been very valuable. The farmer said, "I don't want you cutting on that tree because if it doesn't have the figure and you don't buy it, the tree will be spoiled." Don't let the buyers chop into the tree to see whether it has figure.
MR. CRAIG: I bought two to get grafting wood.