THE WOODSMAN'S HANDBOOK. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The purpose of the Woodsman's Handbook is to give a collection 

 of tables and rules of practical use to lumbermen, foresters, and 

 ^ others interested in the measurement of wood and timber. The 

 Handbook is not intended as a treatise on forest mensuration, and 

 only such information is included as is deemed of immediate 

 practical value to American woodsmen. More complete dis- 

 cussions of the principles of forest measurements can be found in 

 technical treatises. 



The first edition of the Handbook « discussed all of the log rules 

 in use in this country and in Canada, or as many of them as were 

 available. Its purpose was to bring the discrepancy in log rules 

 before the public and to urge uniformity in the methods of meas- 

 lu-ing logs. In the present edition, which takes the place of the 

 proposed Part II, only those log rules are described which have 

 value or usage enough to justify special attention. The other 

 rules are mentioned merely for comparison. Only three are given 

 in full: The Scribner Decimal Rule, which has been adopted for 

 timber sales on the Xational Forests; the Doyle Rule, and the 

 '^Inscribed Square Rule. 



Certain changes have been made in the text of Part I, and some 

 tables, which were desii'able at the time of the first issue, have 

 been omitted, because they are now of little or no value. Most 

 of the volume tables are new and are the result of investigations 

 made since Part I was published. 



The first edition announced that the second volume would 

 include a description of how to measure growth, together with 

 growth and yield tables of American trees. A summary of growth 

 investigations has been included in this volume under the chapter 

 on tree growth. & 



a Forest Service Bulletin 36, Part I. 

 ♦ b These growth investigations are given in greater detail in Senate Document 

 676 — Report of the National Conservation Commission. 



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