' GROWING PLANTATIONS. 209 



I was employed in the thinning of the plantations 

 mentioned, I could have told, to within a mere trifle, 

 the actual number of feet and inches in any indivi- 

 dual tree, before I cut it down. And in like manner, 

 I practised myself when cutting down large trees, 

 embracing every opportunity of improving my judg- 

 ment upon the point, until I came to have perfect 

 confidence as to the correctness of my decision. 



But there is one remark which may be useful 

 for me to mention in this place, relative to the cor- 

 rectness or incorrectness of the judgment of the 

 eye in taking the size of a tree — and that is, the 

 mind must be perfectly at ease. A valuator, with 

 liis mind uneasy upon any point foreign from his 

 present purpose, is certain to commit errors ; and 

 this I mention, in order that any young beginner 

 who may read this, and may commence his learning 

 in the way I did, may be upon liis guard at all 

 times when valuing. 



Having thus pointed out the way by which any 

 forester may acquire the useful habit of valuing 

 trees by sight, I shall now give a statement of the 

 manner in which I generally go to work in the 

 actual valuation of the trees in a plantation. 



When called upon to take the valuation of a 

 plantation of full-grown trees, or, as it may be, a 

 thinning of trees from a plantation, I pro\ide 

 myself with a pretty large pass-book, containing, 

 as usual, money columns on the right-hand side of 



o 



