MARKING IN NEHASANE PARK. 71 
MARKING. 
The work of marking timber in Nehasane Park was begun August 6, 
1898, and was completed during the first week in November. During 
most of this time three men were employed to mark the trees, but the 
force was increased to four during part of the time. The writer super- 
intended the marking, and at first designated all trees which were to 
be marked until the assistants were thoroughly familiar with the sys- 
tem of selecting the trees and were able to work independently. 
The method of marking trees which was finally adopted was to blaze 
the butt of every Spruce below the stump with a special marking 
hatchet and to stamp the spot with the hatchet head, on which the 
initials “U.S.” were cut. The choppers were instructed not to fell any 
trees which were not marked. The blazes on the stump made it pos- 
sible to determine afterwards whether their instructions were carried 
out. On one lumber job the following method of marking was tried at 
first: The trees selected for seed, over 10 inches in diameter, were 
marked with one blaze, and those selected to be removed were marked 
with two blazes. The choppers were instructed to cut no trees as large 
as 10 inches in diameter on the stump except those marked with two 
blazes, and to cut no trees over 10 inches except those marked with 
one blaze. This method was very rapid and inexpensive, and was 
tried on a small area to test its practicability. The choppers were, 
however, utterly unable to determine the size of the trees, and merely 
cut every individual which would make two logs over 6 inches in diam- 
eter. Another experiment was tried at Forked Lake, in the Whitney 
Preserve, of marking only the trees between 10 and 14 inches. The 
Sawyers were then instructed to cut all very large trees, but no small 
ones unless marked. This proved a failure, because it took just as long 
to mark the timber in this way as to blaze every tree, on account of the 
greater difficulty under the former method in keeping track of those 
which had been marked. It was proved conclusively that the only 
Satisfactory method was to mark every tree which was to be cut. 
- he most rapid work can be done by a crew of three men. They 
move through the woods abreast, keeping about 50 feet apart and 
marking every tree between them, each watching the man at his side 
to see that no trees are missed. The inside man follows the previous 
line of marks and the others are guided by him. The outside man spots 
a hardwood tree occasionally where the Spruce are not abundant 
enough to have the marks serve as a line. On an average a crew of 
three men can mark about 40 to 60 acres per day. 
The area lumbered over was determined by the surveyors to be 4,331 
acres. The timber on this entire area was marked and as nearly as 
could be determined on about 200 acres in addition which were not 
cut over. 
The total cost of marking,.covering the board and pay of the men 
and the expenses of the writer, was $543.79, which for the 4,500 acres 
amounted to about 12 cents per acre. 
