12 THE WOODSMAN’S HANDBOOK. 
UNITS 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 pulp wood, 
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 measure. 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 wood, 
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 measurement 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 of 
precious woods which are imported from the tropics. 
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