174 A MANUAL FOR NORTHERN WOODSMEN 



A. SMALL TRACTS 



1. In the case of very valuable timber it may pay the 

 owner or purchaser to examine each tree individually, 

 ascertain its contents carefully, and study it for defects. 

 The net contents of each tree as so ascertained will then 

 be put down separately in the notes, and in case several 

 parties are interested, each tree may be stamped with a 

 number to correspond with one in the notes. At any rate, 

 blazing each tree examined is a good means to make sure 

 that all are taken and to prevent measuring any twice. 



Such procedure as this is appropriate to very large and 

 valuable pine or to valuable but over-mature hard woods, 

 which are especially liable to be defective. Volume tables 

 might help in such cases, but they cannot be fully trusted ; 

 a scale rule at hand would be to many men of quite as 

 much assistance. For instruments, a caliper would come 

 in play along with an instrument to measure heights 

 accurately, while use might be found for some form of 

 the dendrometer. But the best part of the equipment of 

 the estimator in such cases is local experience in cutting 

 and sawing the same class of timber. 



2. When timber in good stand and of considerable 

 value is involved, it may be advisable to caliper each of 

 the trees and measure a sufficient number to obtain the 

 range of heights. After the stand is measured, sample 

 trees of different sizes may be estimated after careful 

 examination, or such trees may be felled and measured. 

 Better than either of these methods, however, is a volume 

 table giving the yield of trees of the given kind and dimen- 

 sions. Volume tables, however, cannot be depended on 

 to allow justly for defects. That is a matter for the judg- 

 ment of the estimator. 



The above method works well in woods of approximately 

 even type. When, however, the stand has a great variety 

 of form and quality, the difficulty in making a true valua- 

 tion is greater. In that case it may be practicable to cut 

 it up into nearly homogeneous parts. 



The following example taken from practice will illus- 

 trate the methods of working in a simple case. 



