of cases. But back of them are thousands of experiences for 

 comparison, and immediate and actual knowledge as to 

 how nearly correct their guesses are. It is all right for amuse- 

 ment to guess at weights, but no one would think of buying 

 meat or sugar that way. No butcher would buy his beef by 

 even his own guess at the weight, and yet his experience in 

 sizing up the weight of a piece of beef is often a matter of daily 

 recurrence. 



The land owner must therefore deal with the question of 

 obtaining a knowledge of forest values, and must base all his 

 operations upon those determined values, in paying taxes, in 

 buying, selling, improving, or converting the land. The degree 

 of error in the original valuation cannot be made up by any 

 amount of wise management, and must appear in the result. 

 Sometimes, fortunately, the error is on the side of conservatism, 

 and the owner profits more largely than he was led to expect. 

 But sometimes the error is in the other direction, and what 

 might have been a profitable move turns out an inexpedient one. 



In borrowing money on Timber-Bonds accurate estimates 

 of the value of the property, based on actual measurements 

 by competent men, are necessary to prevent mistakes on the 

 part of the seller, underwriter, or investor. 



Whether operators are wasteful or conservative and econom- 

 ical depends largely on their point of view. There are some 

 operators whose policy it is to go over the land once and clean 

 it up thoroughly, take all the profit there is in it, rather than 

 to cut out a few selected trees and let the rest grow for future 

 operations. 



Another class of operators, particularly those for large com- 

 panies, are more inclined to look forward, and are more and 

 more becoming saving agents for the forests. They realize that 

 they, as a class, are perhaps in a position to do more than almost 

 anyone else for the conservation of our woodlands. Theirs is a 

 work that calls for a high type of administrative ability and 

 leadership, and it is only natural that such qualities should 

 go hand in hand with a proper consideration of the future 

 values of the property. There are many broad-minded oper- 

 ators who, so far as their financial needs will allow, are carrying 

 on a correct operation of lumbering, according to the best 

 methods which the science of forestry can devise. 



Between these two extremes in the types of operators are 

 many whose intentions are to conserve the property and get 



The owner's 

 problem 



Policies of 

 operators 



i i 



