PRACTICE OF TIMBER ESTIMATING 201 



is densely timbered with a small uniform growth, we find that 

 we secure better results by taking narrower strips, the equivalent 

 of one sixteenth of a forty instead of one eighth. Where trees 

 stand so thickly on the ground it is almost an impossibility for 

 men to keep an accurate count on a wide strip as they can on 

 one of hah* the width, and we find that the basis of much of the 

 error that occurs in our work is due to inaccurate tree counting. 



If the timber is large and particularly accurate results are de- 

 sired, we now run 12 times through each forty and frequently work 

 between blazed lines. That is, instead of running through the 

 middle of the strip, the compassman sets over one-half its width 

 and spots the trees on the opposite side from the cruiser to give 

 the cruiser a line to work to on the return strip. This works very 

 satisfactorily where the brush is not too dense. 



Again, under certain conditions where we have a uniform 

 stand of large timber, we run 4 times, taking strips equivalent 

 to one-twelfth of a forty. This plan, we believe, gives better results 

 than two strips each covering }/g of the whole. 



These notes give some idea of how we attempt to carry on our 

 work, but in the last analysis this cruising business resolves itself 

 into one of personal capacity and attention upon the part of the 

 cruiser rather than the method employed. A careful, conscien- 

 tious and hard-working woodsman whom we can depend upon 

 to go over the ground is more valuable than a more expert cruiser 

 who takes much for granted. There was a. time when I hoped 

 to develop timber cruising to a point from which we could look 

 upon our estimates as being absolutely reliable, but so long as 

 there are influences that will work upon the minds of men, there 

 will be variation and error. A man may do excellent work to- 

 day and be totally unfit to be in the woods to-morrow, all for 

 reasons which none of us can explain. A man must have confi- 

 dence or he will be of little value. On the other hand I think I 

 may safely say that the greatest element of uncertainty and error 

 in men's work is their proneness to feel that familiarity has de- 

 veloped infallibility. The man who never develops absolute 

 confidence in his eye and judgment and who checks himself up 

 frequently, seldom goes far wrong. 



There is, too, another side to this whole matter, one often 

 neglected, but of great importance, and that we consider in our 

 work as best we can. That is the standard of utilization of the 

 timber. As a matter of fact there is surprising difference in the 

 way timber is cut, though I could not define this as a percentage. 

 A concern milling its own timber cuts closer than one selling its 

 logs; and there is variation with the market itself. Then occa- 



