BUSINESS MANAGEMENT OF WOODLOTS 



187 



SCENE AT A PORTABLE SAWMILL USED IN NEW YORK STATE THROUGHOUT THE WINTER. 

 NOTE SIMPLICITY OF ITS ARRANGEMENT. 



gently a value upon the woodlot; and 

 to know how and where best to market 

 the product and to make contracts for 

 cutting. 



Various methods of estimating the 

 stand of timber are in vogue. It must 

 be remembered that to make an accurate 

 estimate requires skill and experience, 

 and if the woodlot is of valuable material 

 and good size, it will pay best to hire 

 a forester to make the estimate. He 

 can, at the same time, make a plan for 

 the best method of management. This 

 will save money on such lands. 



In the woodlot the area is generally 

 so small that the owner could go through 

 it and count all the trees, and determine 

 just what an average-sized tree would 

 be; find the contents of that average- 

 sized tree; and multiply that by the 

 total number of trees. Or, he could 

 estimate the contents of each tree 

 separately. Unless the woodlot is very 

 small, it would be more practicable to 

 determine the number of trees of each 

 inch class of diameters; find the volume 

 of the average tree of each diameter 

 class, multiply the volume of the av- 

 erage tree of each diameter class by the 

 number of trees in that class, and add 

 together the volumes obtained for each 

 class and thus secure the total volume 

 on the whole area. 



In estimating by diameter classes, it 

 is generally the custom to take the 



diameter of trees at breast height, or 

 four and one-half feet from the ground, 

 in order to be above the root swellings, 

 which vary with individual trees. In 

 measuring diameters an average diam- 

 eter is taken. Where all the trees are 

 counted, it is best to mark them in 

 some way as they are counted, in order 

 to avoid counting any of them more 

 than once. Plain chalk can be used. 



A very useful instrument for measur- 

 ing the diameters is a pair of calipers, 

 constructed so that one beam is fixed 

 at right angles to the end of a graduated 

 stick, while the other slides along the 

 stick. When the movable beam is 

 pressed against the tree, it stands at 

 right angles to the scale; and the diam- 

 eter in inches, read off on the scale, 

 gives the diameter of the tree. 



THE USE OF VOLUME TABLES. 



Based on such measurements at 

 breast height, a large number of tables 

 showing the volume of trees of different 

 diameters has been constructed. Where 

 such a table can be found, all that is 

 necessary to complete the estimate, 

 after determining the number of trees 

 of each given diameter class, is to look 

 up in the table for a given species the 

 volumes of trees of the same diameter 

 and average height, and to use the 

 volume there given. Where no volume 

 table exists, it will be necessary to deter- 



