GROWING PLANTATIONS. 205 



self seen three men, apparently busily employed 

 for the space of ten days, in the measurement of 

 four hundred trees, by the method in question ; and 

 even after all their labour, their valuation was dis- 

 puted. A friend of mine being called in to make a 

 second valuation, he did so by estimating the size of 

 each tree by sight, and did the whole work in about 

 half a day ; and when those trees actually were cut 

 down and measured, his report of the valuation cor- 

 responded to within five per cent of the truth, while 

 the report given by the other party was thirty per 

 cent beyond the truth; — this instance at once point- 

 ing out the possibility of being very incorrect in the 

 valuation of trees measured with a polo and cord. 

 From the many obstacles that are apt to come in 

 the way, it is almost impossible to measure cor- 

 rectly any large tree in its growing state ; and 

 by a short sketch of the manner of proceeding in 

 this kind of work, the impossibility of correctness 

 will at once appear. In measuring trees in their 

 growing state, the valuator has with him two men — 

 the one carrying with him a pretty long ladder, 

 in order to get upon the trees from the ground ; 

 while the other bears with him a measuring pole, 

 generally about ten feet in length, divided into 

 feet and inches for the sake of measuring the 

 length of the trees, and a tape line marked with 

 feet and inches for the purpose of taking the 

 girth of the tree in the middle. With these 



