FOREST FIRES 159 



by that on similar adjoining tracts which have not been burned 

 over. After ascertaining the percentage of the area formerly 

 stocked it will be possible by the use of yield tables, discussed in 

 Chapter X, to estimate what the yield would have been had the 

 land escaped fire. 



It will be realized that there are many opportunities for inac- 

 curacies in determining damage in this way, especially in our 

 American forests where so little is known as yet of exact rate 

 of growth and the future value of stumpage. One of the main 

 chances for mistake is in selecting the rate of interest. In the 

 example given it will be seen that the present value of $1700 

 discounted at 4 per cent for 30 years would be $525, or, at 5 

 per cent, $295, making the total damage respectively $1925 or 

 $1695 instead of $1790. Of course where forests are managed 

 under scientific working plans, as is the case in many European 

 forests, and only a portion of the forest is removed equal to the 

 amount grown in that time, a definite income is derived. In 

 such a forest the rate of interest corresponds fairly well to the 

 income divided by the capital. For example, in a forest having 

 an estimated stand of 40 cords per acre in which there is an 

 annual growth of one cord and where wood is worth $i per cord, 

 the rate of interest at which the forest is growing would be one- 

 fortieth = two and one-half per cent. In this country the rate 

 of interest used will usually be not less than that paid by savings 

 banks since our forest management is in such an unsettled state. 



It is only recently that the destruction of reproduction has 

 been recognized by the courts as a damage for which reimburse- 

 ment could be claimed. Hitherto damages allowed by courts 

 have been based entirely on the stumpage value of the timber 

 destroyed. This, hpwever, is only a part of the actual damage, 

 as the young growth and productive capacity of the soil is also 

 injured. For this reason a recent decision of the United States 

 Circuit Court at Deadwood, South Dakota, is of interest. 



"The government in the summer of 1910, won a signal victory 

 in the case against the receiver of the Missouri River and North- 

 western Railroad Company, in which damages were claimed for 



