190 The yournal of Forestry. 



hides, faggots, hav, eggs, milk, sawing, down to the baker's dozen of 

 rolls. 



For practical purposes the slide rule will show at once the difference 

 in the contents of a tree by quarter girth method, and the exact mathema- 

 tical measure, or, as it is commonly done, by multiplying the square of 

 one-fifth of the mean girth by double the length, and the product will be 

 nearly accurate as to the solid contents of the tree ; but no tree would ever 

 plank out to the contents stated thus mathematically. 



Having had to buy and sell timber largely, both in round and plank, 

 I have found the rough and ready method of girthing wdth a piece of string 

 and doubling four times, though it gave the buyer an advantage of a 

 quarter more timber than was charged for, was an economy of time in 

 reckoning a large number of trees in a day's measurement, and the price 

 per foot was always augmented accordingly. 



Of the real practical difference between a tree measured by quarter girth 

 method and the contents of the planks it is cut into, I find the gain to the 

 buyer averages one-eighth more. From many opportunities of testing 

 measurements I select the following, which I noted particularly : — 



It was a very clean grown ash tree, and measured 102 cubic feet by the 

 quarter girth method, but 128 cubic feet when measured accurately as a 

 cylinder. It was cut into the usual sized planks for coachmakers' and 

 wheelwrights' purposes ; the sawing wasted 2^ cubic feet. The slabs 

 measured 9 feet, and sold for about 12s. The planks measured 116| feet 

 cubic measure. The sawdust was useless on farms till succarized by diluted 

 sulphuric acid for mangold wurzel land ; so that the buyer, when the tree 

 was planked, had 141 feet more than he paid for in the round. When the 

 planks were sold the original critical measure for testing the difference of 

 cubical contents would not hold out. Allowances for shrinking, flaws, 

 and bevelled edges of planks certainly reduced the selling measure of 

 the planks \\ cubic foot. Other samples of trees have been so ungainly, 

 and opened so badly, that they barely planked up to the round measure. 

 I may here note that by sawyers' measure the usage is to charge a double 

 cut for the first cut, this is to say for the trouble of dressing up the log, 

 "pitting," and cutting to the owner's advantage : and though the saw-cut 

 may be under six inches, less than that is never reckoned in plank sawing. 

 As a tape is used for length as well as for girth, the proposal to alter the 

 4 in. spaces might lead to confusion. 



John Charles King. 



WOOD MEASURING. 



Sii?, — In No. 2, of the Journal of Forestry, we have an article on the 

 above subject in which the writer says " that on paper, at any rate, sellers 

 of timber are deprived of a percentage of their property from the inaccurate 

 system of measurement." I cannot see how this can be made out, and 

 consider that "the simplicity of estimating the contents of a tree by tha. 



