278 A MANUAL FOR NORTHERN WOODSMEN 



less use of such tables. A chief reason is that men tend 

 strongly to tally timber as yielding the log lengths to 

 which they are accustomed in practice, which in the case 

 of large trees departs widely from the theoretical utiliza- 

 tion. Thus, a 36-inch 5-log hemlock is given in table 28 

 as having 3430 feet of timber. In logging, however, 

 somewhere about 128 feet in log lengths would be got out 

 of it. If, then, a cruiser tallied it as a 4-log tree, his table 

 would give him 2530 feet, over 26 per cent less than the 

 true volume. That might indeed in a given case just about 

 make due breakage and defect allowance, but such a re- 

 sult accidentally arrived at is no justification of the practice. 

 The user of these tables, then, of whatever description, 

 must realize their exact nature and govern his field work 

 accordingly. Judgment also must supplement their use, 



and some men, having arrived at direct, first-hand grasp 

 of timber quantity, find tables of use only incidentally. 



On pages 196 to 197 volume tables produced by scal- 

 ing logs decreasing by a regular taper, as if trees were 

 conical in form, were referred to as in wide use in Oregon 



