INTEREST RETURNS ON CUT-OVER LANDS. 



43 



Table No. 14. — Area necessary for a sustained animal yield of 40,000,000 feet per annum. 



Cutting to 12 inches, therefore, a sustained annual yield equal to 

 the capacity of the mill can be obtained by the addition of about 

 170,000 acres of forest land similar in character to that of the present 

 tract. 



INTEREST RETURNS ON CUT-OVER LANDS. 



It is obvious that calculations of future financial returns from con- 

 servative lumbering can not be infallible, because changes in the value 

 of land or of timber may entirely alter the premises upon which these 

 calculations are based. However, when compiled from adequate and 

 conservative data, estimates of future money returns are of reasonable 

 safety and of no small practical value. 



The table below relates simply to land which has been cut over, and 

 shows the annual interest, represented by future cuts, on the capital 

 invested in the land. At the present time cut-over lands can be bought 

 at an average price of 50 cents per acre, but, in order to be conserva- 

 tive, calculations are made with such lands valued at $1 and $1.50. 

 Taxes are taken at 3 cents per acre per annum, and the cost of pro- 

 tection against tire at 2 cents per acre per annum, making a yearly 

 expense of 5 cents per acre per annum. Pine stumpage is now worth 

 $1.50 per thousand board feet, and the returns from future cuts were 

 accordingly figured for stumpage values of $1.50 and $2. As a mat- 

 ter of fact, the probability is that after thirty or forty years the value 

 of pine stumpage will be considerably above $2 and the interest 

 returns shown by future cuts greatly increased in consequence. 



