MAKKKTINC. TI.MI'.ER FROM FARM WOODLANDS 143 



States, even to the extent of charging for the entire actual expense of 

 the service. 



The chief vaUie in this plan of selling timber is that from the time 

 the farmer has his woodlands examined and is convinced of the feasi- 

 bilitv of the plan of management offered the whole operation is under 

 the forester's guidance, and if he fails to get proper results it is largely 

 his own fault. The forester lays out a plan to begin with, after weigh- 

 ing the conditions on the ground, which has the assurance of being 

 workable, made so by the co-operation of the owner. He selects the 

 trees for cutting and limits the operation to the trees that he has se- 

 lected. He offers a contract that contains the provisions he considers 

 necessary for securing proper results. After the owner has made some 

 investment in the marking and estimating of the timber, and any change 

 that he might make from the prescribed course would render this value- 

 less, he is rather definitely committed to carrying out the recommenda- 

 tions in toto. 



So far as the farmer is concerned, it is quite evident that he is getting 

 the kind of help that he needs at a nominal cost. But inasmuch as it is 

 a market proposition and he is offering the timber for sale, a natural 

 question is. How does the timber buyer look upon the plan? 



Timber buyers have traded on the ignorance of farmers so long and 

 so successfully that they are inclined to resent any interference. When 

 this plan was first inaugurated, they condemned it as impracticable and 

 tried to convince the farmer that the forester was trying to work out 

 some theories that were detrimental to his best interests. This, how- 

 ever, was anticipated by the forester, and the farmer was told in ad- 

 vance what he might expect. 



There was a tendency among some of the timber buyers to avoid 

 buying marked timber, but this was purely local and never amounted 

 to much. The plan became popular among woodland owners from the 

 first, and so many tracts of timber were marked and the sale limited to 

 marked trees that the timber buyers, already having difficulty in secur- 

 ing available timber, were almost forced to accept the new marketing 

 arrangement. Then, too, the timber men have learned that the esti- 

 mates make due allowance for logging costs and i)ermit a fair profit to 

 the operators, giving them a fair chance. The tendency is to force out 

 of business the irresponsible, shyster timber buyers and to put the 

 cutting and marketing of timber on a more stable basis. 



