PRACTICE OF TIMBER ESTIMATING 181 



our circuit of the section and pace from it westerly along the north 

 line of the section for 250 paces, 40 rods. This brings us to a point 

 from which a line drawn south will be parallel with the center line 

 of lots 1, 8, 9, and 16, and with the west line of these lots and 20 

 rods distant from them. We proceed south on this line, taking the 

 timber in the same manner as we took it in going north in the east 

 half of the same lots. Arriving at the south side of the section we 

 again go west 250 steps and then north through the easterly half of 

 lots 15, 10, 7, and 2, and so on until the section is completed. A 

 single "forty" or "eighty" or any sized tract is handled in the 

 same way. This gives a caliper measure of every tree on 4 acres 

 of each lot or on ^th of its area. Should a closer estimate be nec- 

 essary the strips are taken every 10 rods instead of 20 rods, which 

 gives Jth of each lot. If there are places in the tract from which 

 owing to any cause the timber has been removed, the area must 

 be shown on the report and proper deductions made from the esti- 

 mate. If these vacant areas are crossed by the strips, care must be 

 taken that they are not crossed lengthwise, as that would lessen 

 the estimate too much; on the other hand, if they are crossed 

 properly no deduction need be made from the tally. 



When the calipering of the trees on the tract is completed 

 the contents of the trees tallied are taken from the volume table, the 

 scales footed, and the several footings multiplied by 10 or 5 accord- 

 ing to the number of the strips taken. 



My volume table is of my own making. During the last twenty 

 years I have been called upon very frequently to measure trespass 

 until measures have been taken of thousands of trees of each 

 diameter. This work has been done in every section of the State 

 in which hard wood has been cut during that period, and has been 

 added to at every opportunity that has offered. The stumps were 

 calipered by taking the measure both outside and inside the bark ; 

 the length of the stem was taken, together with the diameter of 

 the top, inside the bark. On this basis the log scale was made ac- 

 cording to the Doyle rule. The scale of trees of the same diameter 

 and even of the same stump diameter and length vary considerably 

 on account of the different tapers toward the tops, making it nec- 

 essary to get a large number of trees from which to work up a table. 

 The average of the total scale of all the trees of a certain diameter 

 has been taken as the amount of scale to be allowed for all trees of 

 a certain stump diameter and height. 



The results of the work as I have stated have been very satis- 

 factory. Many of the tracts have been cut the same season that 

 we made the estimate, and the log scale is usually from 10 per cent 

 to 20 per cent above my estimate. I should not care to get much 

 nearer than this. It would not be safe, as some firms cut the 

 timber much more closely than others, depending upon the article 

 to be made from the timber, the disposal of the waste product for 

 fuel, and so on. 



No accurate estimate can be made without the use of the cali- 

 per. It entirely eliminates all favoritism on account of ownership 



