136 



LOBLOLLY OB NORTH CAROLINA PINE, 



Table 69. — ^Rate Per Cent of Increase in Value of Dominant and Intermediate Trees of 

 LoBLOLLT Pine in Mixed Culled Stands on Good Sites. (Value Based on Lumber Band- 

 sawed.) 



Trees should be cut, therefore, when they are between 14 and 15 

 inches in diameter breasthigh, at which size their rate of increase in 

 value (neglecting increase in price) becomes equal to the current inter- 

 est rate. If held to a large diameter, the rate of increase declines below 

 the current rate at which the money invested in the tree could be loaned. 

 If the value is based on the contents by the Doyle-Scribner rule, the rate 

 of increase in value declines to six per cent at the same size. By cut- 

 ting at this diameter there will be about 14 logs to 1,000 board feet by 

 Doyle-Scribner rule and the average f. o. b. Norfolk value of the log 

 run output will be about $20.50 per 1,000 board feet. 



Pure Even-aged Stands for Saw Timber. 



From the standpoint of the landowner the age at which loblolly pine 

 stands yield annually the highest net profits, or the largest average per 

 cent of profit on the investment is the most important consideration. 

 The determination of the net profits must take into consideration the 

 value of the soil, the interest on it for the period of the investment, 

 and the annual expenditures for taxes, supervision and protection of the 

 property, and the yearly compounded interest on these various items. 

 The sum of these expenses determines the cost of production. 



In determining the value of standing timber at a given age it is 

 assumed that the present grades of lumber will remain the same and the 

 prices will not decline. However, since stumpage values are not abso- 

 lute, but vary with the cost of logging and the freight rates to the near- 

 est general market, it is necessary to base calculations on a reasonable 

 range of stumpage values. In applying the figures it is necessary, there- 

 fore, to select the table in which the elements of cost are nearest to the 

 actual conditions. Since Norfolk, Virginia, is the chief distributing 

 market for 'ISTorth Carolina pine lumber, all costs of operation are 

 figured in relation to the Norfolk prices, with a sufficient allowance to 



