SCALING PRACTICE 
149 
there is a variety of practice. Some scalers read uniformly 
from the inch nearest the exact diameter; some disregard 
all fractional inches and take the next inch below; some 
vary the practice according to length and taper of the 
individual logs. 
Probably, the most just practice to follow, as a general 
rule, is to throw off all fractions of inches up to and in¬ 
cluding one half inch, and to read fractions over one half 
as of the inch above. This practice, in logs under 16 
inches in diameter, gives results from 7 to 10 per cent 
greater than if all fractions of inches are thrown out. 
3. Culling for Defects. Defects in logs consist in irregu¬ 
larity of form, in shakiness, and in decay. Knots are not 
properly considered as defects, but as a factor in general 
quality. All these matters vary with the species, with the 
locality, and with the individual log. They are matters 
which have to be dealt with locally and individually, and 
little can be written that is likely to be of service and not 
liable to do more harm than good. 
The curved or sweeping form is a common defect in 
logs. Scalers frequently have rules for allowing for it, 
but these differ so widely that they cannot be transcribed 
here. (See page 145 for the result of this defect in logs of 
different sizes.) 
Irregular crooks in logs cannot be classified. A man can 
sight along a log and estimate what proportion of it can be 
utilized by the straight cuts of a saw, and this guided by 
mill experience is the only way of dealing with the matter. 
Seams caused by frost and wind form another class of 
defect, more frequent in northern woods and in trees grown 
on exposed places. Sometimes these are shoal and have 
little or no effect on saw product. Sometimes they reach 
nearly or quite to the heart of a log. 
A fairly general practice on northern spruce cut for saw¬ 
mill use is to discount 10 per cent for straight, deep seams, 
and for twisting seams up to 33 per cent, or even to throw 
out the whole log. 
It is to be remarked that these defects have, when reck¬ 
oned in percentage, a far greater effect on small logs than 
on large ones. Thus a three-inch sweep in a 15-inch, 12- 
