122 FouETH Annual Repoet of the 



work planned and its extent estimated, without tlie operator having 

 to leave his office. 



3. Stand tables and stock tables (see Tables 6 and 7) give a 

 summary of the number of trees and the volume of wood per acre. 

 These tables enable the operator to ascertain just how much timber 

 he will secure by cutting to any given diameter limit, and at 

 the same time just how much timber will be left to form the basis 

 of the future crop. Stand tables taken with studies of the rate 

 of growth of the different species of trees make it possible to learn 

 how long it will be necessary to wait until a second cut can be 

 had on a given area, and how much timber may be cut at that time. 



The graduate students in the department of forestry. State Col- 

 lege of Agriculture, at Cornell University, perform such field 

 work as a part of their course of instruction. During the month 

 of May, 1914, a reconnaissance survey and estimate of timber 

 upon a certain part of the State Forest Preserve in the vicinity 

 of Big Indian, Ulster county, liew York, was made. The area ex- 

 amined comprised lot 3 of Division 2, and lots 1, 2, 3 and 4 of 

 Division 3 of the Livingston tract which is a part of great lot 7 

 of the Hardenburgh patent. This tract lies in a solid body just 

 north and west of the highway from Big Indian to Claryville in 

 the town of Shandaken. 



The area according to the published land list, is 4,173.86 acres, 

 but in our work we used a strict horizontal survey which computed 

 gave an area of 3,429.04 acres. This variation in area is largely 

 due to the difference between surface and horizontal measure- 

 ment. An examination of the map which shows irregularity of 

 lines will explain other discrepancies. 



The work was done by four students and one member of the 

 forestry faculty. The first problem was the location of the prop- 

 erty boundaries of the tract. Survey stations, to be used as bases 

 for running strips, were established at intervals of ten chains 

 apart as the boundary lines were being retraced. The plan of 

 such a survey is to gridiron the area with strips usually one 

 chain (66 ft.) in width upon which all trees which are to be 

 taken are measured with calipers at breast-height (4^ feet from 

 the ground) . 



