198 A MANUAL FOR NORTHERN WOODSMEN 
tance measure; a vernier compass is usually employed 
for the sake of more accurate line running. Twenty to 
fifty per cent of the gross area is commonly covered by 
actual estimate, one hundred per cent in some cases. 
The unit party for the work consists of two men, compass- 
man and cruiser, of whom one handles distance, area, 
and topography, while the other is responsible for the 
timber. Details of practice vary much, as elsewhere, in 
accordance with the purpose of a cruise, conditions 
found, and the training of different estimators. Follow¬ 
ing is a description of a method as near standard as any, 
widely employed in work of high responsibility. 
a. Section lines are usually freshened up and re- 
chained, and a center line may be run through each sec¬ 
tion. The main purpose of this work is to set stakes for 
the guidance of the cruising party. It is so laid out that 
the actual cruise or estimating lines will run as nearly 
as may be across the features of the topography. 
b. The cruising party, starting at one corner of the 
section to be examined, proceeds to the nearest stake, 
%Y 2 chains from it, whence the compassman, with the 
declination set off in his staff compass, travels parallel 
to the side line of the section, keeping account of his 
pacing, taking aneroid readings at changes of the ground, 
and sketching topography. Behind him follows the cruiser, 
who for a width of 5 rods on each side, estimates the timber. 
500 steps, 4 tallies, make a quarter mile, the width of a 
40. At that point the scoring of timber begins anew, for 
the new forty being entered. So the work proceeds until 
the opposite section line is met (or at half that distance 
if the section is subdivided), when the pacing is checked 
up, the compass work tested on the stake and declination 
reset if necessary. Offset is then made to the second 
stake, 1~Y chains from the corner, from which point a 
parallel line is run in the opposite direction. Four such 
lines are run across each tier of forties. With 16 such 
lines the cruise of the section is completed. 
c. The detail of the estimating work is as follows: — 
First, in nearby timber being cut, or in ordinary circum¬ 
stances by examination of windfalls, the cruiser trues up 
