10 SELLING WOODLOT PRODUCTS ON MICHIGAN FARMS. 



is to be sold by the log, at fixed prices per thousand board feet or other 

 unit, no very precise estimate is necessary ; but if it is to be sold "by the 

 lot" or by "acreage," the owner should protect himself by making as care- 

 ful an estimate as possible. 



A simple and practical method of woodlot stocktaking is given in the 

 next few pages of this bulletin. The main steps are as follows : estimate 

 the top-end diameters and lengths of all the possible logs which the 

 woodlot, or a measured sample of it, contains, recording the sizes and 

 numbers separately for each species;* add up separately the number 

 of logs of each species, each diameter, and each length;* deduct an 

 inch or two from the diameter to eliminate the bark thickness (logs 

 are always scaled inside the bark) ; and multiply the number of logs in 

 each of the totals by the lumber volume for a 16g of the same diameter 

 and length, to be found in either Table 6 or Table 7. 



While close results in estimating can not be expected without con- 

 siderable experience, an untrained observer can, with ordinary care, 

 secure figures reasonably close to the actual contents of the stand. In 

 small woodlots every tree may be sized up separately; in larger ones 

 the trees on a known portion of the tract can be measured, and the vol- 

 ume of the whole stand found by multiplying the volume of the logs on 

 the sample by the number of times the sample is contained in the whole 

 area. This method is, of course, less accurate than the measurement of 

 all the trees, and care must be taken that the sample is an average one. 

 The bigger the sample the more accurate the results, especially when 

 the stand contains a number of diflferent kinds of trees in mixture; in 

 any case, at least a quarter of the stand should be actually gone over, 

 tree by tree. To be sure of securing an average, it is a good plan to esti- 

 mate a number of scattered samples in diflferent parts of the tract, using 

 care not to place them where the timber is either heavier or lighter than 

 the average. The samples can be either strips, squares, or circles of 

 known area. The strip and the circle are usually the most convenient 

 forms. A strip 4 rods wide and 40 rods long contains an acre ; its width 

 and length can be paced off, the observer advancing 2 rods and tifter 

 that stopping every 4 rods, estimating each time the trees on the 

 imaginary square, four rods on a side, at the center of which he stands. 

 Another convenient sample plot is a circle about 20 paces (59 feet) 

 from center to circumference, containing a quarter acre. 



As a guide in estimating the top (small-end) diameters of the logs in 

 a tree it is well first to measure the diameter of the trunk at about breast- 

 height.f Then estimate and deduct the number of inches taper between 

 the breasthigh point and the end of each successive log. It will be a great 

 help in judging the rate of taper of the standing trees if a few down trees 

 of different kinds and sizes can be found and measured at regular inter- 

 vals of 8 or 10 feet along the trunk from the breasthigh point, noting the 

 number of inches diflference between successive measurements. If there 

 are no down trees available for measurement, the farmer must size up 

 the taper for himself. 



The taper varies more with the size of the trees than with the species.^ 

 A short, thick tree which will cut only one or two logs may have 4 inches 

 of taper in the distance between breastheight and the small end of the 



*Forms for recording the logs and finding the totals are shown on pg. 12 and 14. 

 tBreast height is preferable to stump height because It avoids the pronounced swell at the base of 

 most trees. 



