REVIKWS. 117 



REVIEWS. • 



Forest Mensuration. By H. S. Graves, M.A. New York, 

 John Wiley & Sons; London, Chapman & Hall, Ltd., 

 1906. 



In the Preface Mr Graves tells us that the urgent need of 

 a reference book on Forest Mensuration for class work at the 

 Yale Forest School induced him to publish his lectures given 

 during the last year, with such additions as were necessary to 

 present the material in the form of a book. The work contains 

 436 pages, which is a very liberal allowance for one of the many 

 branches of forest science. To give our readers an idea of the 

 scope of the book, we give a short account of the contents : — 



Chapter L gives a definition of Forest Mensuration, and 

 discusses the importance of its study, the Literature of the 

 Subject, and the Units of Measurement. 



Chapters IL and IIL deal with Board Measure and Log Rules. 

 What Mr Graves tells us of board measure and log rules 

 proves that the system of measurement as yet followed in the 

 United States is hardly in accordance with the general develop- 

 ment of the country. There are some 43 different log rules, 

 which lead to widely different results. Taking, for instance, 

 the example on pages 24, 25, we find that the board measure 

 for a log 16 feet long is given for diameters ranging from 

 6 to 40 inches, according to 43 different log rules. For a 

 diameter of 30 inches, the board measure of the same log 

 ranges from 942 feet down to 427 feet, according to the method 

 followed. No wonder the author says (page 15): "One is 

 inclined to advocate the abolishment of the board foot as a 

 unit of measuring round logs." 



Chapter IV. is devoted to Log Rules based on Standards. 

 A standard log of specified dimensions is used as a unit of 

 volume. For instance (page 54), the unit is a log 13 feet long 

 and 19 inches in diameter at the small end inside the bark. 

 Other logs are compared with this, according to their diameter 

 at the small end and their length ; thus a 10 inch log, 13 feet 

 long, contains 0*28 standards. Standard measure is commonly 

 converted into broad measure by multiplying the volume of a 

 given log in standards by a constant. Mr Graves then shows 

 that this is not correct. There are a number of other log rules 



