TAKING STOCK. 69 



party wheels round, and the barked trees of the 

 last strip become the outer boundary of the second 

 strip. This is work into which forest subordinates 

 may be readily drilled ; and if the forest area is 

 vast, half-a-dozen such parties of four men may 

 march abreast. 



The diameters having been all taken, local 

 peculiarities will enable the officer to determine 

 whether a few typical trees may be selected 

 as a general average of height of the whole, 

 or whether these should be divided into classes 

 according to girth. As a general rule, when 

 the trees vary much in diameter, they should be 

 divided into classes 6 to 12 in., 12 to 18 in., 18 

 to 24 in., 24 to 36 in. and the height of half-a- 

 dozen trees of each class determined ; then the 

 total number of trees in each class, multiplied by 

 the height, area at base, and form figure, gives 

 the cubic contents. 



As a preparatory step to stock-taking, the forest 

 should always be divided into well-defined and num- 

 bered blocks. 



But although this operation is a perfectly simple 

 one, it would take a large and well-organised party 

 to get over 200 acres a day, devoting all their 

 time to field-work ; and as it is rarely possible to 

 give more than 150 working days in the year to it, 

 about 30,000 acres per annum may be set down as 



