THE MEASUREMENT OF TIMBER. 137 



5212 cubic feet and the basal area to 262 square feet. The 

 difference, as will be seen, is very considerable, and had the 

 plot taken been measured according to the above rule recom- 

 mended by the writer, a still more accurate result would have 

 been obtained. 



System in America and Canada. 



There are a great number of log rules in force in America and 

 Canada, most of them being based on practical experience. 

 They all, however, set out to give the contents of manufactured 

 timber which the log will produce, and not the actual cubic 

 contents contained in the log. This system is a distinct advan- 

 tage to a buyer, as it gives him an idea as to the amount of the 

 lumber he will have to place on the market, and he can fix his 

 offer when purchasing accordingly. If in future the forests of 

 this country were measured on the rule recommended by the 

 writer, it would be of undoubted advantage to timber merchants 

 and others purchasing timber to have a fairly reliable rule by 

 which to calculate the amount of manufactured material they 

 might reckon on getting from the timber purchased. The loss, 

 owing to conversion, varies so tremendously on account of the 

 varying classes of timber to be sawn, and the many different 

 kinds of material to be manufactured, that it is impossible to 

 devise a rule which will hold good in all cases. The writer has 

 carefully considered this question, and has arrived at the follow- 

 ing rule, as one which should give to those engaged in the con- 

 version of timber a reasonably safe estimate of what they can 

 expect to produce in ordinary scantlings from a log measured 

 according to the rule recommended in this paper. 



The formula for this rule is : 



|(D*)L. 

 The amount of manufactured material produced from a log is 

 taken as equal to a square log, having as its section an area 

 equal to the square inscribed in the mean sectional area of 

 the log. 



The rule is not put forward as an accurate one under all con- 

 ditions, but as a valuable guide to timber merchants and others 

 in arriving at the amount they are prepared to offer for a 

 plantation, the volume of which is calculated on true contents, 

 and not on the old erroneous quarter-girth system. 



In conclusion, at such a time as the present, when the need 



