184 A MANUAL FOR NORTHERN WOODSMEN 



the appearance of timber; a man's condition also varies 

 from day to day, affecting his judgment in this matter, as 

 in every other. 



The above is the faculty of the old lumberman. On 

 the other hand, the forester who has studied the rate of 

 growth and the yield of timber has, in area, soil quality, 

 and density of stocking, factors which he can profitably 

 use to help him in his estimate of quantity. A fully stocked 

 acre of white pine on good soil in Massachusetts, for in- 

 stance, will yield at forty to sixty years of age a thousand 

 feet of lumber for each year it has been growing, a 

 standard which a man may use to check the judgment 

 through a considerable range of conditions. 



Ocular estimate has been spoken of as especially ap- 

 propriate to small tracts of land, but as a matter of fact 

 the methods and principles here stated are still employed 

 to a large extent in the valuation of the largest tracts as 

 well, and even for the purposes of sale and purchase. 

 This is perhaps not as it should be, but it has at least 

 partial justification in the fact that as business goes the 

 amount of timber on a tract is not the only element in 

 value; often it is not the largest, even, for in addition 

 availability, safety, the suitability of a tract to given pur- 

 poses, and the financial situation of the parties concerned 

 must all be considered. Sometimes a tract by reason of 

 its relation to a given investment or manufacturing enter- 

 prise really must be had, almost regardless of its timber 

 resources ; while, on the other hand, though rich in timber, 

 another tract may be dear at a small price. Accurate es- 

 timates of the quantity of timber, therefore, may be a 

 secondary matter. 



When large tracts are estimated by the eye, it is com- 

 monly done on the basis of so much to the acre, either 

 from the looks of the stand or by comparison with some 

 similar tract already cut. Subdivisions, if they exist, might 

 be estimated separately, and the estimated area of waste 

 lands would then be thrown out of account. Some old 

 lumbermen might also estimate by valleys, judging quan- 

 tity from the density of the timber and the length of the 

 roads necessary to operate it. 



6. Recount of the work done on a tract of 89 acres 



