The Forest Industries 87 



men, and supplies, and is paid a stipulated price 

 per thousand feet board measure. The measuring 

 of the logs is a constant source of annoyance and 

 frequent litigation. Rarely do the results of the 

 sealer in the forest tally with those at the mill. The 

 universal practice in the United States, is not to rely 

 upon an actual measurement of the cubic contents 

 of the log, but to compute the number of feet board 

 measure ; that is, the amount of boards of cus- 

 tomary size that ought to be cut from each log. 

 This is done according to one of a number of sim- 

 ple formulas known as Doyle's rule, Scribner's rule, 

 and the like. These rules do not pretend to give 

 accurate results, and the inherent deviations from 

 the truth are increased by the size of the saw used, 

 the skill of the sawyer, and other circumstances. 

 The advantages over measurement by the cubic 

 foot are that only one computation is necessary to 

 get the amount of sawed lumber to be expected,, 

 and that the rule can be applied by any intelligent 

 person, without even a rudimentary knowledge of 

 mathematics. In several States official sealers are 

 appointed, who receive their compensation by fees 

 from the parties needing their services, and it is a 

 rule of construction of logging contracts that in 

 the absence of stipulations to the contrary the logs 

 are to be scaled by these officers. 



As we have seen above, the end of the lumber 

 business, as now conducted, is in sight, although 

 it is impossible to fix a definite date for its disap- 

 pearance. But the service which it performs for 



