68 



inspected and counted is blazed or otherwise marked. A method 

 that requires greater skill is to estimate the contents of each tree 

 as it is inspected. This plan is followed with large and valuable 

 but defective hardwoods in the Appalachian region. WTien each 

 watershed or secondary watershed, ridge, plateau, or other type of 

 land is finished, the figures are added together for the total. 



A very exact method is to measure each tree with calipers and 

 determine its contents by volume tables, and thus get at the con- 

 tents of the whole stand. This plan may be used in the measure- 

 ment of areas as small as 40 acres, to check the accuracy of cruisers, 

 or to make estimates on larger areas. 



In comparatively level regions the cruiser may cover his tract 

 by running definite strips of a given width which do not overlap, 

 but which cover the entire area. In very open pine timber trees 

 may be seen and counted easily for 10 rods, or maybe 20 rods, so 

 that by counting on both sides of a straight line a tract of 40 acres 

 could be completely covered by from two to four strips. Ordi- 

 narily, however, and especially in summer, brush will prevent 

 accurate counting at distances greater than 5 rods, and this will 

 limit the width of strip to 10 rods. Yet very few cruisers \vill go 

 8 times across a ''forty" to count every tree in 10-rod strips. 



A METHOD OF CRUISING A '' FORTY " BY SMALL SQUARES. 



Another method of cruising which gives good results is to divide 

 each ''forty" into 16 small squares of 2 J acres and to estimate the 

 timber on each square separately. This method was described in 

 an article in Rod and Gun, of Canada, of November, 1901, by A. 

 Knechtel. The following description is essentially the same a^ 

 given in that article: 



The cruiser begins at one corner of a ''forty;" for example, at 

 the southwest corner. He paces along the south line 10 rods east 

 and then turns and paces 10 rods north. This brings him to the 

 center of a square 2 J acres in extent, or one-sixteenth of the "forty." 

 Standing at this point he locates by the eye the boundary lines 

 of the square and then estimates the timber upon it, usually by 

 counting the trees and determining their contents from volume 

 tables. 



In dense stands, where the trees can not be readily counted, a 

 flag may be placed at the center of the square to guide the cruiser. 



