40 THE ADIRONDACK SPRUCE 
The stumps and tops of trees taken at the first cut, and the dis- 
tance between them, were then measured, and the number of logs 
and the amount of timber removed at that time were thus closely 
ascertained. All trees left by the second cut were then carefully 
measured with callipers. The date of the first cut was known, and 
it served, together with the measurements and counting of rings 
carried out in the second cut, to re-establish the history of the stand 
for about thirty years back. Fourteen such small plots were laid 
off, and over two thousand trees were carefully analyzed. The 
valuation surveys which were carried out upon them will be found 
in detail in the Appendix. 
The object in taking these stem-analyses was to determine the 
present rate of growth in diameter of trees of all sizes and to ob- 
tain measurements of enough trees to make volume tables (or 
tables of solid contents). The stem-analyses were, therefore, not as 
complete as would have been the case had the intention been to 
make tables of growth according to the German methods. 
The following measurements were taken of each tree: 
Diameter at 4.5 feet from the ground. 
Diameter on the stump inside and outside the bark. 
Diameter at the top of each log inside and outside the bark. 
Height of stump. 
Length of each log and of the top. 
The rings were counted on the stump and at the upper end of each 
log for thirty years in from the bark, and the distance to each ten- 
year point was measured. From these measurements it was easy 
to determine which trees had increased in rapidity of growth after 
the lumbering, and which had not. 
Other measurements were taken, but, as they did not contribute 
directly to the results here presented, no further mention of them 
is required. 
The great labor involved in collecting such data made it impos- 
sible to extend the present inquiry beyond the 2006 trees analyzed. 
This number, however, is great enough to establish a trustworthy 
basis, and the figures derived from it are used as such in the pres- 
ent study. The reasonableness of these figures, their number, and 
