38 



BULLETIN 275, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



suppression and dominance by a figure which would allow direct com- 

 parison between trees of the same age. Height alone would be mis- 

 leading. Volume table figures can not be used, since they are based 

 on sound normal trees. The relation of height to diameter breast 

 high, expressed in total volume, was thought to be a safer index. 

 The object being to obtain directly comparable figures by ages and 

 not the exact volume, the tree was considered as a perfect cone over 

 the stump, at which we had taken the ages. From somewhat scanty, 

 but individually reliable notes, the diameters at the stump (diameter 

 outside bark 18 niches) were obtained, and from these and the height 

 the volume of the cone in cubic feet was computed. 



TABLE I. Fundamental data on the pathology of the white fir. 



1 The use of brackets ([ ]) in column 5 indicates superficial decay of sap wood. 



2 The letters a and b indicate two distinct foci of decay in the same tree. 



