170 TIMBER VALUATION 



Cord wood: 



Best hardwood $r 2 per cord 24 



Softwood $7.50 per cord 15 



Poles 50 



Ties 30 



Cooperage (tight and slack) 50 



Pulp 20 



Tanbark 10 



The next step is to use these figures in determining the values 

 per M by species. Two considerations enter into this problem. 

 It is necessary to know not only to what uses each species can 

 be put but also what are the best uses for each part of the tree. 

 To illustrate the first point the difference between cottonwood and 

 curly maple may be cited. The former is wholly unfit for cab- 

 inet wood. A recent example, fresh in everyone's mind, of the 

 second point is airplane spruce. Material that will meet the 

 rigorous specifications of the airplane manufacturer can only be 

 secured from the butt logs of the larger trees. The upper logs 

 are wholly unfit for this purpose. 



Taking up the use classes in order, the first may be quickly 

 disposed of because tropical cabinet woods come only from the 

 Philippines and to a very limited extent from Porto Rico, Panama 

 and southern Florida. Mahogany and Spanish cedar are the 

 most important species but only a very small proportion of the 

 whole tree reaches the market. While there are no exact data 

 it seems safe to say that not more than one-third of the whole 

 tree reaches the market. In the first place only relatively clear, 

 sound lumber can be used while poor transportation facilities 

 make it desirable to leave in the woods all non-merchantable 

 material. Consequently while the prices of merchantable 

 tropical cabinet woods are high, the value per M of what would 

 be salable with most tree species is low. With one-third of the 

 tree reaching the market and a value per M of $150, the sale 

 value judged by the ordinary standards of merchantability is 

 reduced to $50 per M. Quarter sawn oak is exactly the same 

 kind of a proposition — high prices for a small selected portion 

 of the whole merchantable part of the tree judged by the stand- 

 ards of merchantibility applied to other species. 



