THE CONTENTS OE BOGS AND TREES 171 



The Relation Between Board Feet and Cordwood. — No 

 definite relation exists between the cord and the number of 

 board feet it contains. The number will vary with the char- 

 acter of the wood, the method of piling used and other factors. 

 In general for ordinary sized wood a cord is said to contain 

 about 550 board feet of wood. 



The Cubic Foot. — The cubic foot has never come into gen- 

 eral use in this country for measuring wood, although it is 

 the best unit for measuring the volume of logs, for it gives 

 the entire contents of the logs. It is being used at the present 

 time for measuring pencil wood, wagon stock and other valu- 

 able hardwoods, especially imported woods. Pulpwood is fre- 

 quently measured by the .cubic foot. In many countries of 

 Europe and in the Philippine Islands the cubic meter is the 

 standard measure for finding the contents of logs and timber. 

 The cubic contents of trees is used by foresters in estimating 

 the contents of a stand of timber for cordwood and in scien- 

 tific work. 



Linear Measurement. — Many products of the woodlot are 

 measured by the length in feet instead of by the contents. 

 Poles, mine props and piles are usually measured and paid for 

 by the piece or by linear measurement. Ties, fence posts and 

 many other products are often bought and sold by the piece 

 according to size. 



Finding the Volume of Logs. — Cubic Measure. — There are 

 two methods in common use for finding the contents of 

 logs. 



In one method the log is considered as a cylinder with a 

 base corresponding to the diameter at the middle of the log. 

 The volume is found by measuring the diameter at the middle 

 of the log accurately and finding the area of the base in square 

 feet. This, multiplied by the length of the log in feet, will 

 give the cubic contents of the log. (Basal area tables cor- 

 responding to different diameters will be found in the appen- 

 dix.) 



