460 Forestry Quarterly. 



which was past its prime and decadent; mature timber, of large 

 size but sound and growing; young merchantable timber, above 

 the diameter limit of 12" at breast high but not large enough to be 

 classed in the mature group; immature timber, all below 12", in- 

 cluding seedlings and saplings. This group could be further sub- 

 divided if necessary. The veteran timber was distinguished 

 wholly by the appearance of the crown and bark, size being an aid. 

 All trees were tallied as veterans, even if not of the largest 

 diameters, if they appeared to belong to this age class. On the 

 other hand, no attempt was made to distinguish the mature trees 

 from those younger, by appearance. This distinction was based 

 solely on diameter, by deciding certain limits which were to con- 

 stitute the young merchantable group, while those above this size 

 but not classed as veterans formed the mature group. The justi- 

 fication for this method of distinguishing age classes lies in the 

 fact that diameter as an indication of age is more reliable with 

 young trees than with old trees, since the latter have had time to 

 differentiate more widely in diameter. On the other hand, ap- 

 pearance is a distinguishing character of old trees, but would not 

 serve with younger classes to the same extent ; and finally, while 

 the age of any single tree does not depend on diameter, and can- 

 not even for an even-aged stand be so determined, the average age 

 of a stand which contains several age classes can be found on a 

 diameter basis with a fair approximation of accuracy, since it 

 will contain both younger fast growing trees and older more 

 stunted trees in the same average. 



Plots of 20 acres were laid off. Crews of two men covered the 

 area. One, with a staff compass, ran strips lengthwise of the plot, 

 which measured 40 by 80 rods. Each strip was made 10 rods 

 wide, taking four to complete the area. The compassman paced 

 his lines, and mapped the outlines of areas occupied by all groups 

 of veteran timber, and even by single trees. The scale of the 

 map, I inch to 20 rods, made this easily possible. Great care was 

 exercised to get these areas large enough to coincide with the 

 spread of the roots of these old trees. The tallyman recorded the 

 D. B. H. of trees as veterans which were indicated by the compass- 

 man, so that the map and tally agreed. All other trees of mer- 

 chantable size were tallied by D. B. H., but in a separate column. 



At the same time, the areas occupied by immature timber were 



