30 YELLOW POPLAR IN TENNESSEE. 



assurance of an excellent rate of profit from the management of pure 

 stands of young trees and from plantations. 



Table 12 shows the rate per cent, of increase in the price of the most 

 important grades of lumber at the chief Tennessee shipping points : 



TABLE 12. Rate per cent., compound, increase in the price of the impor- 

 tant grades of yellow poplar lumber at Tennessee points during the 

 20-year period 1893-1913. 



Rate per cent. 



Price in Price in of increase in 



Grades 1893 1913 price compound 



No. 1 and 2 $25.00 $53.00 3.9 



Saps and selects 19.00 38.50 3.6 



No. 1 common 16.00 29.00 3. 



No. 2 common. 7.00* 18.00 4.8 



No. 3 common 5.00* 13.25 5. 



Estimated stumpage has increased at a higher rate than lumber. A 28- 

 inch tree may be regarded as of average size in operation during the past 

 20 years. In 1893 lumber from trees of this diameter had an f. o. b. value 

 of $11.86 per 1,000 board feet. No logs which would cut largely No. 2 and 

 No. 3 common would be taken to the mill. The average cost of operation at 

 that time may be placed at $10.70 per 1,000. In 1913, on account of the in- 

 crease in wages and supplies, the cost of operation under the same condi- 

 tions is $16 per 1,000 board feet. In 1913 the f. o. b. value of lumber from 

 an average tree 28 inches in diameter breast-high is $28.92 per 1,000 feet, 

 at important shipping points in Tennessee. These figures give stumpage 

 values of $1.16 per 1,000 board feet in 1893; and $12.92 per 1,000 board 

 feet in 1913. The increase in value of the stumpage of a tree of this 

 diameter has been at a rate of 13 per cent., compounded, a year. Such a 

 rate will scarcely continue for the next decade, since the tendency of the 

 rate of increase is to decline as the base on which it is calculated becomes 

 larger, although the actual amount of increase may be the same. 



/ 



INCREASING THE YIELD FROM TIMBER LAND. 



The rate of growth of trees and the yield of timberland are as a rule 

 greatly overestimated by owners. Their opinions have been formed as a 

 result of the method of cutting which has been used on many tracts of 

 timber. While it is true that many tracts have been cut over several 

 times, only a small portion of the merchantable timber was cut in the 

 earlier operations. In the first cutting, as a rule, the larger and more 

 valuable trees were taken to 24 or 30 inches in diameter. A subsequent 

 cutting removed some of the inferior large trees, and cut the more valua- 



