12 THE woodsman's HANDBOOK. ^ 



UxNITS OF LOG MEASURE. 



In the United States and Canada logs are most commonly meas- 

 ured in board feet. In small transactions standing timber is often 

 sold by the lot or for a specified amount per acre. Standing trees 

 which are to be used for lumber are occasionally sold by the piece. 

 Hoop poles and other small wood are sold by the hundred or 

 thousand. Ties and poles are sold by the piece; piles and mine 

 props by the piece or by linear feet, the price varying in piece 

 sales according to specifications as to diameter, length, and grade. 



Firewood and wood cut into short bolts, as for small pulpwood# 

 excelsior wood, spool wood, novelty wood, and heading, is ordinarily 

 measured in cords. 



In certain sections of the East it has been the custom to use a 

 standard log as a unit of measiu-e. In the Adirondacks a common 

 unit of measure is the 19-inch standard or, as it is often called, 

 the ''market." In this case the standard log is 19 inches in diame- 

 ter at the small end inside the bark and 13 feet long. In New 

 Hampshire the Blodgett standard is in common use. This unit 

 is a cylinder 16 inches in diameter and 1 foot long. There were 

 formerly other standards in use, such as the 24-inch standard once 

 used in New England, and the 22-inch standard in use in certain 

 parts of Canada and northern New York. The standard measure 

 is decreasing in use and will undoubtedly soon become obsolete. 



The cubic foot is the best unit for measuring the volume of logs. 

 It has gained a foothold in this country and will unquestionably 

 be the unit of the future. Even now, red-cedar pencil wooc^ 

 wagon stock, and other valuable hardwood material is occasionally 

 sold by the cubic foot in certain sections of the East. The unit is 

 used by a few companies in Maine for measuring pulp wood. A 

 special commission on the measiu'ement of logs has recently rec- 

 ommended to the legislature of Maine that the cubic foot be 

 adopted as a statute unit of measurement. 



The cubic foot has for a long time been used for the measurement 

 of square timber. Round logs are often measured in terms of cubic 

 feet, but the plan is to determine the contents of the square which 

 can be cut from the log, rather than the full contents, including 

 slabs. The cubic foot is in common use in the measurement <^ 

 precious woods which are imported from the tropics. 



