58 



THE FORESTER 



March, 



The Collection of Statistics. 



Under date of December 26 Dr. C. A. 

 Schenck, forester of the Biltmore Estate, 

 wrote to the Northwestern Lumberman 

 offering some suggestions as to methods 

 of gathering timber statistics. Dr. 

 Schenck holds that to be of permanent 

 use such an investigation should include 

 every tree species. As to the selection 

 of a unit of measurement he would reject 

 as inaccurate all commonly accepted 

 rules for finding contents in board feet 

 and use only the cubic foot. After sug- 

 gesting that much will depend upon the 

 extent to which the investigation is 

 carried how far up the bole of the tree, 

 and the minimum size of small or young 

 trees to be measured and also as to 

 what shall constitute a forest within the 

 meaning of such an investigation, Dr. 

 Schenck then takes up the cost of such 

 an investigation as follows : 



It will be interesting to find out what the 

 stock-t iking of the American forests will cost. 

 The United States has an average width of 

 about 3,000 miles and an average length of 

 1,250 miles. If the country was traversed on 

 every meridian, and if for the width of four 

 poles lying on that meridian the amount of 

 standing timber, the area of brush land, of 

 agricultural land, of waste land, of prairies, 

 etc., was found out, very complete statistics 

 could be obtained. There will be 60 strips, 50 

 miles apart one from another. Multplying the 

 result obtained on each strip by the ratio " dis 

 tan ce between the strips divided by width of 

 strip," the amount of timber land and the 

 growing stock, the amount of brush land, of 

 waste land, or agricultural land, etc., would 

 appear at a glance. I do not think that the 

 stock taking could be done by ordinary lumber- 

 men. I have had several tractsm this neighbor- 

 hood investigated relative to the amount of 

 timber growing on them by highly-rt com- 

 mended lumbermen. The results given in by 

 different lumbermen for 'he same tract vary 

 by about 500 per cent I am c nfident that 

 inaccurate results would be obained by the 

 Government statistics as well, if they were 

 taken with the help of average lumbermen. A 

 thorough scientific way is the only one that 

 will yield the desired result. A combination 

 of agricultural statistics with the forest sta- 

 tistics will cheapen the entire work very con- 

 siderably, while it will make it more interesting 

 at the same time. 



The head man of a " band of stock-takers" 

 should be a botanist well acquainted with the 



flora of the region in which he is working. In 

 such places for which maps are not available a 

 geologist and a surveyor should accompany him. 

 Supposing that a band can thoroughly inves- 

 tigate the length of five miles a day, one of the 

 strips above mentioned, being 1,250 miles long, 

 could be done at an expense of about $20,000. 

 As there are 60 strips to be pursued, the total 

 expense would amount to$i, 200,000. 



I think the strip system is more advisable 

 than estimating the standing timber by .coun- 

 ties. In the latter case, the inaccessible parts 

 of the country are necessarily over or under- 

 estimated, and there is little chance that a mis- 

 take made in the plus direction will be elim- 

 inated by another mistake made in the minus 

 direction. 



The strip system above recommended will 

 compl the band o 1 ' stock-takers to visit even 

 more or less inaccessible places. The outcome 

 will be maps showing at a glance for* sts, brush 

 land, abandoned fields, cultivated fields, grass 

 lands, etc. Other maps will show the amount 

 of cord wood standing per acre ; again others, 

 the amount of annual regrowth ; finally, and 

 that is for us the most important point, the 

 amount of timber standing in the different 

 States and counties given by species, average 

 size and average quality will be shown by 

 tables and illustrated by maps. 



In commenting upon this proposition 



of Dr. Schenck's, Dr. B. E. Fernow, 



Director of the New York State College 



of Forestry, says : 



One-quarter the expenditure proposed by 

 Dr. Schenck will secure this information with 

 sufficient detail for practical uses in measuring 

 our forest resources. 



Mr. Henry Gannett, who is in charge 

 of the forest work of the U. S. Geo- 

 logical Survey, takes decided issue with 

 Dr. Schenck as to the means that should 

 be employed in the collection of lumber 

 and timber statistics. In regard to this 

 matter Mr. Gannett writes as follows : 



"The 'stock-taking' is at present in 

 progress ; for the past two years the 

 U. S. Geological Survey has been ac- 

 tively engaged upon it, and an area of 

 about 200,000 square miles, including 

 some of the most heavily-timbered por- 

 tions of the country, has been covered. 

 Moreover, for nearly a score of years, 

 the Geological Survey has been gather- 

 ing data concerning wooded areas and 

 placing them on its maps. 



"The method employed is the simple 



