MEASUREMENT 145 



In measuring standing timber, the height, 

 girth, and the allowance for bark and taper can 

 only be estimated, and are therefore liable to dis- 

 pute ; but it is possible to fix the number of the 

 trees with certainty. Counting them separately 

 is the only method of accurately ascertaining the 

 number of trees in a wood. Each tree should 

 be marked by a scribe, paint, chalk, or a piece 

 of paper. The counting should not be allowed 

 to go to high figures ; as soon as ten or twenty is 

 reached a line should be made in a notebook 

 and counting should commence again from one. 



In order to avoid the loss of time which is 

 necessary for counting the trees in large fir 

 plantations the number is sometimes fixed by 

 an estimate either derived from the valuer's 

 experience or founded on measurements of the 

 distance apart of the trees, 1 or the number of 

 trees counted in small plots. The trees in a 

 square of 7 yards, if multiplied by 100, are 

 approximately equal to the number of trees in 

 an acre. If the valuer measures by his own 

 paces or otherwise several squares of 7 yards 

 and counts the trees, the average result, multi- 

 plied by 100 and then by the number of acres 

 in the wood, should theoretically give the number 



1 See table, p. 153. 

 10 



