398 TRANSACTIONS OP ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



XXIX. The Valuation of Woods or Plantations for the Purpose 

 of Transfer. By James Pearson, Strabane, Brodick. 



The valuation of growing timber for the purpose of transfer is 

 an art for the practice of which no fixed rules can be set down. 

 We can only consider the principles on which such valuations are 

 based, and the considerations which will weigh with the valuer in 

 the application of these principles when making his valuation. 

 All woods under the age of full-grown timber, with the exception 

 of young plantations recently planted and not yet thinned or 

 yielding a return, are valued on the basis of their prospective 

 value when felled ; and to gauge this accurately the valuer must 

 be possessed of an intimate and thorough knowledge of the habits 

 of the different species, and of the influence which climate, soil, 

 etc., may have on their annual growth. Before entering on any 

 valuation, the valuer should make himself acquainted with the 

 prices of wood prevailing in the locality in which the crop is 

 growing, and with the extent of the local demand. This latter 

 should be particularly noted, as in many inland districts there is 

 no local demand for the wood, and the expense of transport to a 

 more distant market may absorb all profit. In a mining or hop- 

 growing district again, the market may be at the very door, and 

 there is comparatively little expense of this nature. The position 

 of the wood and the facilities it affords for the removal of the 

 produce should also be noted in this connection. 



Before taking up in detail the methods of valuing various 

 classes of wood-crop, I should like to mention the fact that 

 in many cases of the transfer of landed property, not only 

 are plantation crops not taken into account, but very often 

 the land upon which they are growing is left out of calcula- 

 tion unless it yields a yearly rent. A case of this kind came 

 under my notice some time ago. A large sporting property, with 

 a free rental of over £3000, came into the market and was sold 

 at twenty-five years' purchase of the free rental. Some little 

 time before the sale, the growing timber on the estate had been 

 valued at £40,000, and this timber was thrown in along with 

 the land, for what reason it is difficult to say. It may have been 

 for reasons of amenity, or the exposers may have thought that 

 the sporting, agricultural, and grazing rents could not be main- 

 tained without the maintenance of the woods, and were thus 

 dependent on them. No doubt allowance must be made for such 



