THINNING. 8 5 



irregular upon the ground, in order to intersect as 

 many of the good and inferior parts as possible, with 

 a view of arriving at the various averages, which is 

 essential in order to arrive at an exact estimate. 



It has been stated that the trees are girthed at four 

 feet from the ground, the girth at which height, in- 

 cluding bark, is about equal to the girth at the base 

 without it, or below the bark, which is a simple way, 

 and sufficiently correct, as making allowance for bark. 

 A common way of finding the average of a plantation 

 is to select patches of one-fourth of an acre in several 

 places, the best and worst parts, and count the trees 

 upon them. The objection to this practice is, that it 

 does not show how much good and how much inferior 

 crop there is upon the ground, and therefore leads to 

 error. 



The mode of valuing above described applies only 

 to one class of plantations, namely, such as have 

 been at least once thinned, but are below timber size. 

 In valuing plantations that have not been thinned 

 the first time, the practice pursued by the writer is to 

 go carefully through every part, and note the length of 

 the last matured top growths, and also the full height 

 of the trees, to the extent of about 800 to the acre — 

 the number that should remain on the ground after 

 being thianed the first time. The method of casting- 

 up the value of a young plantation is a question of 

 simple proportion, stated thus : — If a plantation of 

 sixty years' growth is worth ^30 per acre, what should 

 the value of the same plantation be when only forty 



