STUMPAGE VALUES 167 



for standing timber. Products already harvested and measured, 

 like wheat or coal, resemble logs or lumber, but the standing 

 trees are like the grain before the harvest, or the coal yet in 

 the mine; yet not quite the same, for the trees can all be seen, 

 and their contents, quality and value ascertained with some 

 definiteness. This requires agreement upon a unit of measure- 

 ment for the product, as, for instance, board feet by a given 

 log rule, cords or posts. The methods of determining the 

 quantity of stumpage are discussed in Chapter XIV. 



169. Stumpage Prices. Prices for stumpage are deter- 

 mined by actual sales, whenever a price per unit of product is 

 quoted. But the price obtained for one body of stumpage is 

 seldom a safe basis for appraising the value of another stand. 

 For no other product is there such need of checking sale values 

 by a careful appraisals as for timber stumpage. Practically 

 every body of timber should have a separate price, determined 

 by the factors which are peculiar to the stand in question. 

 Standard or uniform prices are often established in a region, 

 for small bodies of stumpage bought by a single company, 

 but this uniformity is usually explained by the fact that the 

 purchaser is in position to dictate the price, and could, if he 

 wished, pay more for the better lots. 



170. Factors Determining Stumpage Prices. The value of 

 stumpage is derived directly from that of the finished products 

 into which it is finally manufactured (9). The stages in this 

 process, in reverse order, are: 



Income from ) _ 

 retail lumber ) 



Cost of retail business 

 Retailers profits 

 Freight charges 



Cost of lumber ) = ^^ ^ manufacture Qr ^ = 

 f .o.b. mills ) 



Cost of manufacture 

 Milling profits 



Per unit of product 



Overrun 

 Cost for logs at mill = Income from logging = 



