l64 TIMBER VALUATION 



be small while on small tracts of valuable timber, and especially 

 in complex stands, the percentage should be high. As an illus- 

 tration of the former conditions the Douglas fir type on the 

 Pacific may be cited. The percentage estimated may run as 

 low as I per cent and seldom exceeds 5 per cent. On the other 

 hand, only high percentages will give satisfactory results in the 

 valuable white pine of the Lake States or the mixed stands in the 

 southern Appalachian coves. The following table summarizes 

 the methods and percentages applicable in the different types: 



Per cent 



Northern spruce strip method 5 to 10 



Northern hardvvoods " 10 to 20 



White pine " 25 to 100 



Swamp " 5 to 25 



Southern hardwoods " 5 to 100 



Bottomlands " 5 to 10 



Southern pine " 5 to 10 



Western yellow pine " 5 to 10 



Lodgepole pine " 5 



Engelmann spruce " 5 to 10 



Silver pine " 10 



Sugar pine " 10 to 20 



Douglas fir " 5 to 10 



Sequoia " 10 



Alaska " i to 5 



Tropics strip or sample plot i to 5 



Wages and food costs vary in general directly with the acces- 

 sibility. A man demands more to go into the wilderness and his 

 food costs more than when he is working near settlements. 



The accessibility is also the most important factor in base line 

 and corner location. The longer a region has been settled the 

 better the surveys are in most cases. Unfortunately, this rule 

 does not hold for most of the thirteen original states. The south- 

 eastern Atlantic states are notorious for their confused and over- 

 lapping land grants, while many of the newly settled western 

 states have fairly good surveys to tie to, thanks to the rectan- 

 gular land survey system. 



The size of the trees, their number per acre and their variety 

 are also factors which affect the cost of estimating. Medium 

 sized trees are the easiest to estimate closely while the stands with 



