THIXXIXG. 89 



pine, oak, &c., with the assistance of two men — 

 the one to girth the trees, and the other to put 

 a number or mark upon them, the valuator enters 

 the contents of each tree in feet, in one column 

 only, and afterwards casts up the contents and value 

 at a given rate per foot. But if the plantation is com- 

 posed of different species of trees, the whole is some- 

 times entered as money, and not feet, with the initial 

 letter of the name for the sake of brevity. Thus : — 



s. d. 

 L , . . 25 o I O , 20 o 



S P . . . 10 6 , E . 30 o 



Sp . . . . 12 6 I B . . . . 35 o 



L means larch, worth 25s.; S P, Scotch pine, value 

 I OS. 6d. ; Sp, spruce, worth 12s. 6d. ; 0, oak, value 

 20s.; and E, elm, value 30s.; B, Birch, 35 s. The 

 putting down of the money value instead of the number 

 of feet is by some thought objectionable, but in the 

 writer's experience it is freer from objections than any 

 other system, because many trees, irrespective of their 

 real measurement or contents, are of high or low value. 

 An ash, for example, may be worth 30s., while another 

 of equal cubical contents may not be worth 2Cs. A 

 clean, well-grown larch of 20 cubic feet may be worth 

 30s., while another of the same species, measuring 

 even more, may not be worth half that amount. 



In valuing pine or fir timber, where the rule is to 

 put it down in feet and cast up the value in that 

 way, there is the same difficulty to meet in showing 

 the true value of fine-grown and rough-grown wood 



