The annual fellings and sales of pulpwood from the State Forests of Finland comprised 4.0–4.6 million m3 in 1955–1959. In order to improve the accuracy of the methods used in estimating the pulpwood stocks marked for felling, a pilot survey of 18 marked stocks was carried out in 1959. The stock area, average plot volume, variation of the plot volumes, size and shape of the plot and the distribution of the trees by diameter classes as factors affecting the precision have been studied in this paper.
The greater the mean volume of a plot the more homogenous is the structure of the marked stock. The same number of plots gives a better relative precision for the south Finnish marked stock than for the north Finnish ones, which are heterogenous and less valuable. Stocks smaller than 50 ha can often be estimated more advantageously by the strip method or visually than by the plot method. The proper size of plot in Southern Finland is 0.02–0.03 ha. In Northern Finland the plots should be larger due to the heterogenous stocks, about 0.05 ha. The shape can be either circular or rectangular. The former may be more practical and reliable in the field. The minimum number of sample trees is considered to be about 200 per 100 sample plots 0.03 ha in size.
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