384 BULLETIN OF THE BUSSEY INSTITUTION. 
Mr. Samuel Dyer of Whitman, Mass., states, — 
‘‘T had one cord of good, straight, pine logs, from six to fifteen 
inches in diameter, brought to me by C. D. Dyer, and sawed by 
Warren Wilkins, that made eleven hundred and forty-five feet of 
five-eighth inch box-boards, and I have cut from one acre of land 
one hundred and seventy-eight thousand feet of five-eighth inch box- 
boards.” 
The age of these trees is not known. Mr. Dyer says he is ready 
to furnish proof of the truth of his statement if it is doubted. 
Many similar statements could be furnished, if it were neces- 
sary; but I consider it a waste of time to add any more. The 
writers above cited are careful and intelligent men of unques- 
tioned integrity; and it is to be noted that their knowledge has 
been arrived at by a method of procedure which gave them posi- 
tive information both as to the products of a given quantity of 
land, and as to the quantity of boards obtained from a given 
number of cubic feet of logs. Inasmuch as I have myself set out 
many pines and other trees, and watched their growth and measured 
them while growing; have cut them down, counted the rings and 
compared the number of rings with the known age of the trees, I 
ought to be able to know enough about the age of a pine forest .to 
tell whether it has been growing thirty or fifty years, — provided, 
of course, that I possess ordinary intelligence. 
As I have stated before, my papers have been written for Massa- 
chusetts, and particularly for Plymouth County, where pine trees 
grow more rapidly than in some other counties. I once owned a 
saw-mill in Franklin County, where I cut and sawed many cords 
of pine timber; but not enough to justify me in rushing into print 
with the results, except to say, that judging from the length of 
the clear lumber between the limbs, I think it would take fifty 
years to get there as large a growth as could be obtained in Ply- 
mouth County in thirty years. 
Mr. Fernow’s mistake is in judging Plymouth County by more 
unfavorable portions of the country and by drawing conclusions 
from measurements of a few standing trees. ‘To show how unre- 
liable this method is, I will give the measurements of a few pine 
trees that meet my view as I look up from my writing table; these 
trees were set out thirty-five years ago last spring (1896), being, 
when set, not over six inches in height. 
