PRACTICE OF TIMBER ESTIMATING 



189 



carefully run and marked in advance by a survey party, 

 or a compassman going along with the timber estimator 

 may run and pace them. Topography may be mapped; 

 notes are taken of swamp boundaries and other changes 

 in the character of ground or timber. 



The strip estimated is either one or two chains wide, 

 split by the line of travel; thus either 5 or 10 per cent of 

 the gross area is covered. The estimating party proper 

 consists of three men, two to caliper the timber breast 

 high, and one of good training who is responsible for the 

 work as a whole and who does the recording and estimat- 

 ing. His note book has separate space for each species 

 and under each a line for diameters by inch classes. Each 

 tree on the strip is scored down as calipered, or it may be 

 the number of 16-foot log lengths. 



In such a vast region there is bound to be much varia- 

 tion in utilization, scaling, and mill practice so that when 

 volume tables are employed they are usually of local 

 origin to correspond. Since, however, the country is of 

 very gentle topography, height and taper within the same 

 species are unusually even. Two niches taper for each 

 16-foot log above the butt log has been found to be widely 

 characteristic of pine timber, and three inches of hard 

 wood timber. Some tables then have been made up on 

 the basis of these regular tapers. 



Accompanying is an extract from a volume table 1 con- 

 structed on this plan, giving figures that, when manufac- 



1 From "Southern Timber Tables" by Howard R. Krinbill, 

 Newbern, N. C. Copyrighted. 



