FOREST PLANTING IN THE UNITED STATES. 137 



Expenses on 1 acre for forty years. 

 First year: 



Cost of seed and starting seedlings in nursery $2. 00 



Value of land 6. 00 



Third year: 



Transplanting to nursery, at $1 per 1,000 1. 21 



Fourth year: 



Transplanting to field at $4.50 per 1,000 5. 45 



Taxes for first decade on average assessed value of $9.38, interest to be reck- 

 oned for thirty-five years 1. 69 



Taxes for second decade on average assessed value of $16.88, interest to be 



reckoned for twenty-five years 3. 04 



Taxes for third decade on average assessed value of $24.38, interest to be 



reckoned for fifteen years 4. 39 



Taxes for fourth decade on average assessed value of $31.88, interest to be 



reckoned for five years 5. 74 



Total 29.52 



Amount at 3 per cent compound interest 70. 70 



At the age of forty years the average planted White Pine in New 

 England is 8 inches in diameter and 48 feet high. a 



It is estimated that the land will produce at least 40 cords of wood 

 suitable for use as box boards, which should sell on the stump at not 

 less than $4 per cord, bringing $1 60 per acre. Deducting from this 

 sum the amount at 3 per cent compound interest, $70.70, there remains 

 $89.30 as the return on the investment. This is equivalent to a return 

 of about $2.25 per year from the time of planting to the time of cut- 

 ting, a very satisfactory return considering the fact that it is secured 

 from land which is useless for any other purpose, and which without 

 a timber crop would be a source of constant expense for taxes. The 

 timber crop not only gives a return on the money invested, but it 

 makes productive the capital locked up in the land. 



For the sake of definiteness in the estimate, it is assumed that the 

 stand will be cut off clean at the end of forty years. In actual experi- 

 ence, probably the wiser course would be to leave at least half the 

 stand for ten or twenty years longer. During this period the trees 

 would not only grow rapidly, but the quality of the lumber would 

 greatly improve, and in consequence it would command a corre- 

 spondingly higher price. 



In this estimate the cost is the record of actual experience; the rate 

 of taxation, that at present common in New England; the rate of 

 growth, the average of planted White Pine in New England; and the 

 price less than that which has already been received where fair access 

 was had to market. The estimate is corroborated by actual expe- 

 rience. 6 



Since the estimate is based upon present conditions, it more nearly 



Determined from a series of 60,000 measurements in White Pine plantations. 

 & J. D. Lyman, in The Forester, August, 1901. 



