82 FOREST VALUATION 



With the entire cost of building roads charged against the 

 logging, and pro-rated over the amount of timber logged, any 

 reduction in this quantity, especially if the area is not corre- 

 spondingly reduced, increases the unit cost of logging by nearly 

 the same ratio. It is not often possible to cheapen the means 

 of transportation to conform to the lessened cut ( 98). 



Felling and skidding will cost more in proportion to the care 

 needed in avoiding damage to young timber. 



Brush disposal ( 100) is almost always needed. It frequently 

 happens that as a result of this measure, the costs of skidding 

 are correspondingly reduced. 



A question may well be raised as to whether the sum of these 

 extra expenses constitutes a loss of profits on the crop being cut 

 or a diversion of profits into initial investments on the next 

 crop. Should the total extra cost, thus incurred, be charged as 

 initial cost or silvicultural expenses, to accumulate at compound 

 interest, it would constitute a heavy burden on the succeeding 

 crop. Viewed from the standpoint of destructive lumbering, 

 this cost taken from profits, is a deliberate reduction of ordinary 

 profits and must be charged against future income. But from 

 the standpoint of forest production, this excess profit is not a 

 true profit at all, but the wrecking value of the "plant" added 

 to legitimate profit. Normal profit is that which will leave the 

 productive capital intact. From this standpoint these "extra" 

 costs of logging would be considered as "ordinary" costs, falling 

 on the logging and cancelled by income from sale of logs, and 

 would not be regarded as an additional investment in the new 

 crop. These two opposing tendencies are best illustrated by 

 the expense of burning brush ( 100). 



The investment represented by the stand of timber left after 

 logging is more easily classified. Should this consist merely of 

 seed trees, it can be regarded as a loss only in case these trees 

 will not live until the harvesting of the next crop. If they 

 survive, they represent an investment from which the returns 

 will be: 



The future value of the trees themselves; 



The value of the new crop. 



