* PRACTICE OF TIMBER ESTIMATING 
181 
our circuit of the section and pace from it westerly along the north 
line of the section for 250 paces, 40 rods. This brings us to a point 
from which a line drawn south will be parallel with the center line 
of lots 1, 8 , 9, and 16, and with the west line of these lots and 20 
rods distant from them. We proceed south on this line, taking the 
timber in the same manner as we took it in going north in the east 
half of the same lots. Arriving at the south side of the section we 
again go west 250 steps and then north through the easterly half of 
lots 15, 10 , 7, and 2 , and so on until the section is completed. A 
single “forty” or “eighty” or any sized tract is handled in the 
same way. This gives a caliper measure of every tree on 4 acres 
of each lot or on ^th of its area. Should a closer estimate be nec¬ 
essary the strips are taken every 10 rods instead of 20 rods, which 
gives 5 th of each lot. If there are places in the tract from which 
owing to any cause the timber has been removed, the area must 
be shown on the report and proper deductions made from the esti¬ 
mate. If these vacant areas are crossed by the strips, care must be 
taken that they are not crossed lengthwise, as that would lessen 
the estimate too much; on the other hand, if they are crossed 
properly no deduction need be made from the tally. 
When the calipering of the trees on the tract is completed 
the contents of the trees tallied are taken from the volume table, the 
scales footed, and the several footings multiplied by 10 or 5 accord¬ 
ing to the number of the strips taken. 
My volume table is of my own making. During the last twenty 
years I have been called upon very frequently to measure trespass 
until measures have been taken of thousands of trees of each 
diameter. This work has been done in every section of the State 
in which hard wood has been cut during that period, and has been 
added to at every opportunity that has offered. The stumps were 
calipered by taking the measure both outside and inside the bark; 
the length of the stem was taken, together with the diameter of 
the top, inside the bark. On this basis the log scale was made ac¬ 
cording to the Doyle rule. The scale of trees of the same diameter 
and even of the same stump diameter and length vary considerably 
on account of the different tapers toward the tops, making it nec¬ 
essary to get a large number of trees from which to work up a table. 
The average of the total scale of all the trees of a certain diameter 
has been taken as the amount of scale to be allowed for all trees of 
a certain stump diameter and height. 
The results of the work as I have stated have been very satis¬ 
factory. Many of the tracts have been cut the same season that 
we made the estimate, and the log scale is usually from 10 per cent 
to 20 per cent above my estimate. I should not care to get much 
nearer than this. It would not be safe, as some firms cut the 
timber much more closely than others, depending upon the article 
to be made from the timber, the disposal of the waste product for 
fuel, and so on. 
No accurate estimate can be made without the use of the cali¬ 
per. It entirely eliminates all favoritism on account of ownership 
