TRAINING REQUIRED TO PRODUCE TIMBER CRUISERS 303 



on the actual work of running lines and estimating can be considered 

 as the basis of costs. All lost time for any other cause adds to the 

 costs per hour of work. 



9. Personal efficiency. The training and personal efficiency of the 

 men employed may make from 25 to 50 per cent difference in the actual 

 cost of the work, but its principal effect is in greatly increasing the 

 relative accuracy of the estimate. 



Cost of estimating should be computed as follows: 



Total cost itemized under salaries, and cost of supplies, transporta- 

 tion and subsistence. 



Cost reduced to the cost per hour of actual work by dividing this 

 total by the number of hours employed in estimating. These costs 

 can be separated into field work and office work, including mapping." 

 The costs can then be expressed as cost per unit of area or per acre 

 and finally as cost per unit of product, as per thousand feet or per 

 cord. This is the final test of cost. The cost should then be compared 

 with the stumpage value per unit. If possible it should not exceed 

 1 per cent of this value. 



238. Methods of Training Required to Produce Efficient Timber 

 Cruisers. Mechanicjil methods of timber estimating, dependent upon 

 the measurement of diameters and heights with instruments, and secur- 

 ing the mechanical average stand per acre by strips, do not require 

 anything more than conscientious work and care in details. Skill and 

 training enter with the application of the laws of averages, even for the 

 construction of height curves. The demand for training is increased 

 by the use of ocular methods of measurement and reaches its maximum 

 in the application of cull for defects and in judging the quality of timber. 

 Aside from Tamiliarity with cull and grades, there are no principles of 

 timber estimating that cannot be learned in a month's intensive train- 

 ing. The common impression that it takes several years to develop 

 ability as a timber cruiser is based upon the unscientific methods 

 employed in training these men. They usually acquire their skill by 

 a maximum of hard work in the woods, with a minimum of accurate 

 comparisons of the estimated volumes with an actual cut. Even in 

 the matter of judging defect, the basic training should not be in the 

 woods, but in the mill and in scaling. It is comparatively easy to recog- 

 nize the signs of defect in standing timber, but much more difficult to 

 judge of the amount of cull which it causes. In actual training of 

 timber cruisers it has been found that ability to secure accurate esti- 

 mates is greatest in men who have best developed their mental faculties 

 by education, close observation, memory and systematic coordination. 

 This same combination of qualities is desirable for success in any line. 

 Many cruisers lack this ability and remain permanently inefficient tO 



