314 JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



can be made most advantageously by this method. Its application 

 requires judgment, in order to secure the most average sample, since 

 the location of the strips is not strictly mechanical, as each course 

 must be laid out as the chief of crew thinks best. On the other 

 hand, it is much more likely to give a fair average than an arbitrary 

 sample plot method, since the whole length of the hollow is traversed 

 by straight lines the direction of which, within certain limits, is fixed 

 mechanically. The important points in practice are to take care to 

 reach the extreme limit of the type as mapped before changing courses, 

 and to give proportionally equal representation to both sides of the 

 stream. 



3. A 100 per cent tally of the coves can be made by traversing 

 each hollow, at the same time mapping the stream and type lines and 

 tying in strip crossings. This method is especially applicable when 

 the valuable timber is concentrated along drainage lines in extremely 

 narrow and irregular strips, perhaps averaging one to three chains 

 in width. However, in wider hollows, or when it is desirable to 

 include a good lower slope type extending well up the slopes, it is 

 much more expensive than the "zigzag" method. Furthermore, unless 

 the estimators are very careful and conscientious in covering the 

 ground, patches of timber are likely to be missed, since it is the 

 tendency of the crew to stick close to the stream. 



In all of the three methods, it is necessary to tie to the original 

 gridiron system of strips covering the entire tract. Therefore on 

 each of these strips it is customary to mark temporarily the points 

 of crossing each hollow. This can be done conveniently by blazing 

 a sapling or large bush with the pocket knife, and writing on the blaze 

 with indelible pencil the date or strip number, chains from starting 

 point, and initial of estimator. The mark is located on the road or 

 trail, if any, or at the most conspicuous point near the streain. These 

 marks can be very readily picked up by the cove crew, especially if it 

 includes a man who was on the strip crew which made them, as can 

 often be arranged. 



The question might arise as to the danger of overlapping or omis 

 sion through the failure of the men who run the regular strips to locate 

 type boundary lines in exactly the same places as the cove crews. Any 

 large discrepancy of this kind is not likely to occur with experienced 

 men, especially when some are on both crews, and would at once be 

 detected in comparing field maps. A slight error does not afifect the 



