FOREST commissioner's REPORT. 



t t 



out around this small one, so that from then on it grew rap- 

 idly. In 1898 it was itself cut. The butt log at that time, cut 

 at the standard length of thirteen feet, had a top diameter of 

 ten inches. It scaled fifty-four feet. But above this two 

 other logs were taken, each of the same length and with a top 

 diameter of eight and six inches respectively. The logs taken 

 from the tree scale altogether 108 feet, an increase in eighteen 

 years of 94.5 feet or of 700 per cent. 



This tree would not be cited as a typical example of spruce 

 ofrowth, thouuh nianv trees could be chosen that have sfrown 

 as much or more. It illustrates, however, the point desired, 

 the fact that with growth the length of merchantable timber 

 increases as well as its diameter. Measurement, however, is 

 not always so easy as in this case. Trees do not always cut 

 just of the standard length, and where there is no standard 

 and scaling methods vary so much as they do in the State of 

 Maine, it is hard to settle on a measurement that will be fair 

 and representative. I will only state the solution which after 

 some consideration was finally chosen. 



In the first place growth all the way through was figured in 

 cubic feet and not board feet. Reckonino- in those terms was 

 easier, and results will be more widely and longer of value. 

 Tree volumes were given in cubic feet, the percentages of 

 growth applied were those for increase in actual cubic con- 

 tents, the resulting volume and the average yearly production 

 were both stated in the same terras. It remained then simply 

 to get at a converting factor, a ratio between cubic feet and 

 board feet which should convert results into the common busi- 

 ness term. This, as already indicated, had to be worked out 

 for trees of different sizes. 



In the records of measurement of hundreds of trees of all 

 sizes so many times mentioned there is ample material for 

 the j)urpose. 'leaking a sufficient number, and ascertaining 

 first the total cul)ic contents of each, the stem is supposed to 

 be used up to six inches in diameter, the stump height allowed 

 being about two feet. The trunk is then supposed to be 

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