70 Forest Mensuration 



The cost of production is composed about as follows : 



1. Expense of logging and log transportation, varying locally be- 



tween $2 and $5 per 1,000' b. m. 



2. Expense of milling, varying between $1.50 and $5 per 1,000' b. m. 



3. Expense of freightage of lumber to the consuming market, 



amounting per 1,000' b. m. to $1.50 for very short hauls; to 

 $12 for a haul from Atlanta to Boston; to $21 for a haul across 

 the continent from Portland (Oregon) to New England. 



Freight rates have, in the long run, a decided downward tendency. 

 Still, with a majority of the lumber produced in the U. S., the item 

 "freight" forms the chief expense of production. 



For Pisgah Forest a reduction of freight rates equalling i cent per 100 

 Ibs. involves a net gain for the owner of approximately $60,000. In this 

 possibility lies one of the strongest arguments for conservative lumbering. 



An increase of the price of lumber from $20 to $21 at the place of con- 

 sumption endears the lumber to the consumer by 5% ; the owner of the 

 forest now valuing his stumpage at $5 will eventually experience this in- 

 crease as a 20% increase of stumpage values. 



The only factors of stumpage-values, which the owner himself unaided 

 by the development of the country may influence, consist in the expense 

 of logging and log freighting, and in the expense of milling, the former 

 largely depending on the quality of available means of transportation, the 

 latter governed by the quality of the sawmill. 



In ascertaining the stumpage-value of a tree the forester considers: 



a. The cost per 1,000' b. m. of logging it, of milling it and of freight- 



ing its timber; 



b. The volume of timber contained in the tree, by grades ; 



c. The value of such lumber, by grades. 



If a tree contains 

 45% of lumber worth $31 per 1,000' b. m. 



It is necessary to find Stoetzer's constant factor of increment or to 

 ascertain the relative increment of the sectional areas of the sample trees 

 at 0.45 of their heights. 



35% of lumber worth $21 per 1,000' b. m. 

 15% of lumber worth $16 per 1,000' b. m. 

 5% of lumber worth $8 per 1,000' b. m. 

 then the lumber value of the tree, per 1,000' b. m., is 

 45 X 31 + 35 X 21 + 15 X 16 + 5 X 



100 



= 824.10 



Deducting from this figure the expense of logging, milling and freight- 

 ing, the actual stumpage-value, per 1,000' b. m., is derived. 



The actual prices paid for stumpage in the U. S. fall deeply below the 

 figures which a test-calculation is apt to yield. 



