342 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



entire State in one season, it was decided to attempt the work 

 county by county, and this year Worcester County was chosen. 

 This county has been covered, with the exception of a few 

 towns. 



The method of field work was an adaptation of a large-scale 

 timber cruising system, which we felt gave a maximum amount 

 of information for a minimum cost. Each man worked one 

 town at a time alone, running lines one-half mile apart, by com- 

 pass and pace, from one boundary to the other. Record was 

 kept of the length of each type, and type boundaries were 

 sketched, so far as practicable, in an especially arranged note 

 book checked off in scale with the large maps, to which the data 

 were easily transferred. These maps, the scale of which is 976 

 feet to 1 inch, are enlargements from the United States top- 

 ographical sheets, and we hope will be the basis for permanent 

 forest maps of each town in the State. 



By means of symbols the rough proportion of different species 

 of trees growing on the ground traversed is shown, and by 

 numbers, their approximate size. A rough estimate of the per- 

 centage of stocking was made. The number of white pine per 

 acre was estimated, to enable a more accurate estimate of this, 

 the most valuable timber, and especially to give an idea of the 

 acreage where the occurrence of scattered white pine gives a 

 chance for converting inferior hardwood forests into pine, by 

 so handling as to secure more pine reproduction. Areas of 

 exceptional hazard for forest fires were located by symbols on 

 the maps, as were wood lots infected in different degrees by 

 the chestnut bark disease. 



From this work we feel we shall have a very reliable estimate 

 of the acreage of different types of forests of different age 

 classes for the county as a whole, and a fairly reliable estimate 

 so far as the unit towns are concerned. The completeness and 

 accuracy of the maps depend largely upon whether the towns 

 have much or little open land, and uniform or frequently chang- 

 ing forest types. 



So far as we know no other State has begun to collect data 

 which will allow so accurate an estimate of its present stand of 

 timber, and of what is likely to be produced during future 

 periods. 



