114 
M E NSURATIO N. 
you mu ft: endeavour to make your observation from a place 
upon a level with the bottom of the tree. If this cannot 
be done, direft the horizontal fights at C and D towards 
the lower part of the tree, and let your affiftant make a 
mark upon it; then find the height of the tree above 
this mark, as before, to which add the diftance of the 
mark from the ground, which mult in this cafe be confi- 
dered the height of the eye; and the fum will be the 
height of the tree. The fimplicity of this inllrument 
feems to give it a preference to the quadrant; practice will, 
however, loon enable a perfon to'judge pretty correctly 
of the heights of trees in general, independently of any 
inllrument.' 
In order to obtain the girt of a tree, at or near the mid¬ 
dle, proceed thus : If the tree taper pretty regularly, 
take tlie girt about two feet from the bottom, to which 
add 24 inches, the fuppofed girt at the top, and half the 
fum will be nearly the girt at the middle 5 as the height 
of the trunk ought only to be taken to that part which 
will meafure 24 inches in circumference. Or take the 
quarter-girt about two feet from the bottom, to which 
add fix inches; and half the fum will be the quarter-girt 
at the middle nearly. If the upper part of the trunk be 
nearly as thick as the bottom, which is fometimes the 
cale; take the girt as far from the ground as you can 
reach, from which girt make a fmali deduction, at difcre- 
tion, in order to reduce it as nearly as you can to the girt 
at the middle. 
In meafuring timber in a wood, you will frequently meet 
with 8, 10, 12, or mere, trees, nearly of the lame dimen- 
fions, io that, by meafuring one of a medium lize, you 
may, by it, eftimate the contents of the reft, without 
meafuring them; and thus be enabled to proceed with 
confiderable expedition. 
When a fall of wood takes place, it is often neceflary to 
cut down many young trees, l'omeof which will not con¬ 
tain more than a foot of wood, in order to make room for 
ethers to come to a greater maturity. If the quarter-girt 
of thefe be lefs than four inches, their contents cannot be 
found by the Hiding-rule, conlequently they mull be com¬ 
puted by the pen. Practice will, however, foon enable a 
perlon to-eftimate the contents of fmali trees with confi¬ 
derable accuracy, independently of calculation. Young 
trees are called pole-tvoocl, and valued at a lefs price than 
larger trees, or fuch as are called timber. 
In valuing a wood, the branches, the bark of oak-trees, 
and the underwood, mull be taken into confideration, as 
well as the timber and pole-wood. The ftrongeft of the 
underwood, and the boughs or branches which are not 
timber, are called cord-ivuod, and valued in Yorklhire and 
other northern counties by the llatute-cord of 128 cubic 
feet; viz. 4 feet in breadth, 4 feet in height, and 8 feet in 
length. Cord-wood is lometimes piled up and lold in par¬ 
cels of thole dimenlions ; and fometimes it is made into 
piles much larger, and the number of cords they contain 
found by admeafurement. In Suffex, and feveral other 
fouthern counties, a pile of wood containing 126 cubic 
feet, viz. 3 feet broad, 3 feet high, and 14 feet long, is ac¬ 
counted a cord of wood. The ftrongeft of the cord-wood 
is made into props for the roofs of coal-mines, polls, rails, 
&c. and the other into charcoal, which is uled in manu- 
fafturing gunpowder, polilliing copper or brafs, making 
powerful fires for melting metals, Sec. The price of cord- 
wood is at prefent from nine to fifteen fliillings per cord. 
Bark is valued by the ton ; and the price flubluates in 
proportion as we have fupplies from foreign countries. 
The price is, at prefent, from 12 to 15 pounds per ton, ac¬ 
cording to the quality of the article. Bark is a very ftrong 
aftringent,and is chiefly uled in tanning the hides of cattle 
into leather. 
Underwood is valued by the acre, if the number of acres 
contained in the wood be known ; if not, it mull be efti- 
mated by the great, at the diicretion of the valuer. The 
price of underwood is regulated by the quantity, quality, 
and the demand there is for it. In fome woods it is worth 
five pounds per acre, and in others it is fcarcely worth five 
fliillings: Part of the underwood is ufed for wicker work, 
fuch as panniers, coal-balkets, Sec. and fome of it is only 
fit for hedging materials. 
When a fall of wood is about to take place, the valuer 
or woodman mull firltmark all the trees which are intend¬ 
ed to Hand, by caufing a ring of white or red paint to be 
made quite round the trunk of each tree. This is called 
Jetting-ont. The trees that are permitted to Hand Ihould 
be at proper dillances from each other ; of different ages; 
and fuch as are likely to make the greateft improvement. 
Thofie which are ftraight and elegant, and have few 
branches, are generally preferred. 
When the wood has all been jet out, tkofe trees which are 
not marked mull be valued ; and in doing this, attention 
mull be paid to the fizes, qualities, and fpecies of the trees. 
Large trees, if found, are always worth more per foot than 
fmali ones; and if the crooked oak-trees, and large crooked 
boughs, be particularly adapted for Ihip -timbers, they are 
worth more per foot than ftraight trees. In meafuring 
and valuing, fome perfons number every tree, by a feribe- 
iron, or with paint; others only count them, and mark 
each tree with a crofs, it Ihow that it has been meafured; 
and others number the large trees, and count the fmali 
ones, fetting down the contents of 10, 15, or 20, of thefe 
in one fum. 
No regular rules can be given by which the quantity of 
bark and the cord-wood a tree contains, may be com¬ 
puted ; as the bark of trees differs very much in thicknefs, 
and the cord-wood depends entirely upon the quantity of 
top. Sometimes there is a great deal more bark upon the 
top of a tree than upon the bole. If the bole of a tree mea- 
fures 30 feet or 360 inches in length, 60 inches in circum^ 
ferencein the middle, and the bark be.half an inch thick j 
we have 360 multiplied by 60 multiplied by a, equal to 
10800 cubic inches, the folidity of the bark, which being 
divided by 2150, the cubic inches in a Wincliefter bulhel, 
we obtain 5J bulhels,the quantity of bark upon the trunk, 
to which mull be added the quantity eftimated to be on 
the top. Praftitioners, however, are never at the trouble 
of calculating the quantity of bark on the trunk, but 
make an eftimate of what they fuppofe to be upon the 
whole tree. Befides, when bark is chopped, it will mea- 
fure to a great deal more than in a folid ftate. In molt 
places in the Weft Riding of Yorklhire, 6 pecks, Win- 
chefter mealure, or 3225 cubic inches, are accounted a 
bufliel of bark, and 9 fuch bufhels a quarter; and it has 
been found by experiment, that about S quarters of the 
bark of pretty large trees, or about 12 bf that of fmali 
trees, or pole-wood, will weigh a ton ; confequently, we 
may reckon about 10 quarters, upon a medium, to make 
a ton. 
When a rough calculation of a large wood is wanted, 
or time will not permit you to be very accurate, let an 
acre be meafured oft' in that part of the wood which ap¬ 
pears to be of a mean value, and meafure and eftimate 
the timber. Sec. which it contains ; then this eftimation, 
being multiplied by the number of acres in the wood, 
will give the value of the wood nearly. Or meafure and 
eftimate an acre of the beft and an acre of the wopH; and 
multiply half the fum of the two ellimations by the num¬ 
ber of acres in the wood, for the whole value. 
In meafuring and valuing Handing timber, various me¬ 
thods are adopted, by different perfons, in fetting down 
the dimenlions, &c. Some enter the oaks, elms, Sec. fe- 
parately in different parts of the book ; and others enter 
them promilcuoufly, having a column in which they fpe- 
cify the name of each tree. Some valuers eftimate the 
quantity of cord-wood in the top of each tree, or in the 
tops of two or three trees taken together 5 and others va¬ 
lue the top of each tree. 
The two following Examples will ferve to illuftrate what 
has beenfaidon thelubjeflofmeafuringand valuing Hand¬ 
ing timber. The content of each tree was found by the 
Hiding rule. 
A 
