40 



exhausted. One way of regulating the cut is by area. If 

 there are 250 acres in timber, and it takes about 60 years for 

 the trees to reach the required size, that is, to reach maturi- 

 ty, then about 4 and a quarter acres could be cut over each 

 year, or if more convenient the cut for 2 or 3 years could be 

 made in one year; but the area cut over should average about 

 4 and a quarter acres a year. 



167. Another way to regulate the cut is by volume. On 

 a place in Middle Georgia the estimate shows a stock of 

 1,529.000 board feet, and as it takes about 60 years for the 

 trees to reach maturity, the amount which it is safe to cut 

 may be found by the formula;— 



Stock 



=^=^== zzl annual cut; or 

 Rotation 



1,529,000 1,529,000 



60 30 



= 50,966 feet. 



2 



Then it would be safe to cut about 50 thousand feet a year; 

 and if more convenient 2 or 3 years cutting, or 100,000 or 

 150,000, may be taken out in one year, provided that the 

 average is not more than 50,000 a year. The stand should 

 be estimated at intervals; and if the amount of timber is 

 greater or less, the cut will change correspondingly. If af- 

 ter 10 years, the stand mentioned above is estimated again; 

 and it is found to contain 1.200,000 feet, the cut should be 

 reduced to 40,000; if the new estimate is 2.000,000, the cut 

 may be increased to 66,000. It will be seen that the formula 

 is self corrective. The chances for mistakes are in deter- 



