In the late 18th century, Johann Gottlieb Beckmann, a Saxon forester, hit upon the idea of systematically surveying Saxony's forests. He dispatched trained surveyors into a tract of woodland to hammer nails into every tree. Each man carried nails of five different colours, enabling them to grade trees by size. When every tree was marked and the men emerged, Beckmann counted the coloured nails left over to calculate the exploitable resources.
18世紀(jì)末,撒克遜林務(wù)官約翰?戈特利布?貝克曼(Johann Gottlieb Beckmann)突然萌生系統(tǒng)調(diào)查撒克遜森林的想法。他把受過培訓(xùn)的調(diào)查員派到一大片林地中,讓他們在每棵樹上釘上釘子。每人攜帶5種不同顏色的釘子,以便按照樹木的大小進(jìn)行分類。當(dāng)調(diào)查員在每棵樹上都釘上釘子并返回后,貝克曼通過統(tǒng)計剩余彩釘?shù)臄?shù)量,就能計算出可供開發(fā)的資源。