66 THE WOODSMAN’S HANDBOOK. FF 
the land, was sufficient for the purchaser. In recent years,as the | 
values of land and timber have increased, greater accuracy is | 
required, so that in many sections the estimates are now based on 
very careful methods, which involve actual counts of trees. Pur- 
chasers formerly were satisfied if the estimate underran the real 
f product of the land. But under present conditions a considerable 
underestimate might keep a buyer from purchasing and thus cause ~ 
him to lose a chance for profitable investment; while an over- 
estimate, by causing the purchase of land at too high a figure, 
would bring a loss instead of profit when the trees were cut. There 
is no uniform method in making an ocular estimate of timber on a 
given tract. Each cruiser does the work in hisown way. Suppose 
that a township of timber is to be estimated; the cruiser goes over 
the tract, examines the character of the timber, and then guesses 
either the total yield or the yield per acre. If the timber is fairly 
uniform in size and evenly distributed, the estimate may be made 
in a short time. Usually, however, the timber is not uniform, so 
that several parts must be estimated separately. Thus, if there is 
a mountain on the tract, the north slope may be estimated sepa- 
rately from the south slope, the lower slopes separately from the 
upper slopes, and the different watersheds, swamps, or other special 
types of land also separately. Some cruisers guess at the total con- 
tents of a township or part of a township in million feet or fractions 
of million feet; others estimate first the yield per acre and mul- 
tiply by the known or supposed number of acres in the area. 
The estimate by the acre is more reliable than the general guess 
if the cruiser constantly checks his judgment by laying off sample 
areas and carefully estimating the timber on them. 
| There are several methods of laying off rough sample areas with- 
out measurement. One way often used by cruisers is to count the 
trees in a circle that has a radius of 118 feet, or approximately 7 
rods, since a circle with this radius covers an area of about 
1 acre. In the spruce forests of the northeast 7 rods is about the | 
| distance that one can distinguish a tree by its bark. After count- | 
| ing the trees the cruiser estimates the contents of an average tree 
[ and multiplies by the number of trees for the yield per acre. A 
| quicker way is to count the trees in a circle with half this radius, 
| or 59 feet, for an area of approximately one-quarter acre, or one of 
| 85 feet radius for a half acre. In case the forest is very open, how- | 
