202 A MANUAL FOR NORTHERN WOODSMEN 
sionally a tract is cut with such carelessness that the yield is 
very materially cut down. We have to meet the wishes of our 
customers if clearly expressed, but we protect ourselves by an 
explicit statement of the kind of utilization which our estimates 
imply, and by an exact showing of the basis on which the work 
was done. 
Timber Quality. While the above applies specifically 
to the Douglas fir country, much the same methods are 
employed in the Interior and California, with resort to 
others of less intensiveness, similar to those in use else¬ 
where, when stands are lighter or less valuable. The pre¬ 
ceding, however, is inadequate in one field of importance, 
in that quality of timber has been given scant emphasis. 
This throughout the region is no less important a factor 
in value than quantity. In fact, in very much territory 
timber has no commercial value unless its products are 
suitable for other than ordinary building purposes. 
In the case of Douglas fir and timbers associated with 
it west of the Cascades this matter is simplified by the 
fact that log grades instead of lumber grades are made 
the usual basis of quality rating, the log grading rules in 
force in the market thus furnishing the standard to which 
the field man works. Since, however, both dimension 
and lumber quality enter into these, their application is 
not simple. 
The grading rules for Douglas fir logs in force on Puget 
Sound follow; those of the other log markets are very 
similar. Spruce is commonly graded like fir. With cedar, 
because of the variety of products into which the wood 
may be manufactured, grading varies from time to time 
and locally. Hemlock logs and those of the species 
rarely met are sometimes classed in two log grades, those 
above 16" in diameter and surface clear, and all others. 
No. 1 (also called Flooring) logs shall be logs in the 
lengths of 16 to 32 feet and 30 inches in diameter inside 
the bark at the small end and logs 34 to 40 feet, 28 inches 
in diameter inside the bark at the small end, which in the 
judgment of the scaler contain at least 50 per cent of the 
scaled contents in lumber in the grades of No. 2 Clear 
and better. 
