Report of Committee on Uniform Log Rule. 



109 



cents. Of course, the limit-holder 

 can take care of this difference in the 

 bonus which he pays additionally. 



In order to meet the difficulty in 

 securing a fair measurement of small 

 logs the proposition is advanced by 

 one member of the Committee, to have 

 all small logs, say below nine inch 

 diameter at the small end, piled and 

 measured by the cord, or else to mea- 

 sure at least by carefully constructed 

 tables which give the number of logs 

 of varying sizes, diameter and length, 

 that go to a cord. 



This would result in a great reduc- 

 tion in the cost of scaling, especially 

 as small logs form more and more the 

 bulk of the cut, at least in the East- 

 ern Provinces. 



It should be thoroughly understood 

 that log-rules are not really actual 

 measurements, but a mixture of mea- 

 surement plus a judgment, namely, 

 as to how much saleable material can 

 be cut from the given cubic contents. 

 It is, of course, well known that this 

 result at the mill depends on a great 

 variety of conditions, such as the size 

 and character of the timber, the char- 

 acter of the mill and saw, the skill 

 of the sawyer, the kind of lumber to 

 be cut, and various other variable 

 conditions. 



The only absolute measurement — 

 as absolute as anything in such a 

 variable material as logs can ])e — is 

 the cubic contents. 



It would appear, therefore, desir- 

 able and from many points of view 

 eminently practicable to make the 

 cubic foot (or cubic meter) the unit 

 of measurement, leaving entirely to 

 the logger the judgment which log 

 scale fits his case, in order that he may 

 produce a satisfactory result from a 

 given cubic log content. 



For forestry purposes, i.e., for the 

 purpose of studying rate and amount 

 of production of wood material, a 

 uniform unit of measurement is ab- 

 solutely necessary, and cubic contents 

 alone, measured by the cubic foot or 

 cubic meter, are acceptable. Hence 

 the present necessity of having to 



translate various log-rules into cubic 

 contents is a very considerable draw- 

 back and impediment to progress in 

 developing forestry knowledge. 



The only way in which a uniform 

 log-rule can be expected to be adopt- 

 ed is by conference of the provincial 

 governments and their agreement as 

 to the fairest rule. At least the east- 

 ern provinces which handle timber of 

 more or less the same description 

 could, it seems, very readily come to 

 an agreement to use one log-rule. 



No attempts have been made by the 

 Committee to bring the matter to the 

 attention of the provincial govern- 

 ments. 



The effort, however, when any 

 change is contemplated, should be at 

 once to press for the adoption of the 

 cubic foot, or better still of the cubic 

 meter; tables giving contents of logs 

 of different diameters and lengths 

 being now in existence in either mea- 

 sure. 



(Signed) B. E. Fernow, Chairman. 

 JuDSON F. Clark. 



G. C. PiCHE. 



Alex. McLaurin. 

 Ell WOOD Wilson. 



In thei^e days when there are numerous 

 claims of alleged 'rain-makers,' who pro- 

 pose to bring down moisture from the 

 clouds by explosions of dynamite, etc., it is 

 rather interesting to know that Dr. Fernow, 

 Dean of the Faculty of Forestry, Toronto 

 University, was the first official rain-maker 

 of the United States, that is to say. Dr. 

 Fernow was instructed to investigate the 

 possibility of causing rain by artificial me- 

 thods, and he was particularly to investigate 

 whether it was true that great modern l)at- 

 tles were always fought in heavy rain- 

 storms caused by the discharge of artillery. 

 Dr. Fernow 's investigations led to a report 

 of an entirely negative character, that is 

 to say, he found that there was no truth 

 in the report that great battles were always 

 fought in rain, nor did he find that the dis- 

 charge of ordnance or bombs had any per- 

 ceptible effect on the precipitation of mois- 

 ture. 



