Regarding the timber-measurer’s equipment it may first be necessary to say a few words. This consists of a 66 ft. Chesterman’s tape-line, or instead of this a 5 ft. wooden rod, standard girt-strap, or fine cord, scribing knife, and bent piece of iron, with eye at end for drawing the girt-strap beneath such trees as the arm cannot readily pass under. For girthing timber a piece of thin whipcord or string is frequently used, but as the elasticity of this varies greatly, and has in many instances led to dispute, a much fairer plan and one that is liable to no abuse is to use the 12 ft. girt-strap, upon which every inch in length is reckoned ¼. As the proper quarter-girth can be seen at a glance on this strap, its adoption will at once remove any chance of trickery, which may be possible in the use of the string and rule. For entering measurements the most convenient book is that 9 in. by 4 in., with stiff pasteboard covers, ruled with horizontal lines, and divided into four vertical columns. To measure proceed as follows:—Mark a number with the scribe on the butt end of the tree, and enter a similar number in the first column of the book; this will not only serve to identify the particular log, but prevent any risk of measuring twice. Should the taper throughout the whole length of the tree be tolerably gradual, set down the length in the second column of the book, opposite the number already entered. At exactly one-half of the length of the portion measured, take the girth by passing the girt-strap tightly around the stem. Put this down in the third column on the same horizontal line as the number and length. Should, however, the trunk taper not be fairly uniform throughout the entire length, as frequently happens, several measurements may require to be taken. For example, a tree may be 36 ft. in length, running with regular taper for perhaps 12 ft., after which it branches out, reducing the size of the remaining part very considerably for, say another 12 ft., where it again branches and leaves the last 12 ft. of a relatively small size. With such a tree it would be quite impossible to obtain anything like a correct measurement by taking only one length and girth. The difficulty is, however, readily got over by first measuring the lower 12 ft., then the second, and then the third, marking the respective lengths and girths in the vertical columns as already described. The measurement of these trees, so far as the field work is concerned, is now completed, the contents of each tree being found by referring to “Hoppus’s Measurer”—a book with which every forester should be supplied. By squaring the quarter-girth in inches, multiplying by the length in feet, and dividing by 144, the same result will be obtained. This is, however, a tedious method, especially where large numbers of trees have to be dealt with, and should only be adopted when Hoppus is not at hand.