COMPARISON OF FOREST WITH AGRICULTURAL VALUES 231 



has been stripped of timber, but is covered with stumps which 

 interfere with the cultivation of the surface and prevent the use 

 of machinery, is the condition in which the prospective farmer 

 in most cases has to accept property in timber regions to-day. 

 In former times, timber itself had no value, hence the cost 

 of removing it, including the burning of the logs, gave such 

 lands a low initial value. It is still necessary to cut and remove 

 standing timber from agricultural soils, but the timber now has 

 a stumpage value and its removal will cost the owner nothing, 

 while its sale supplies him with capital with which he can un- 

 dertake the work of clearing the land of stumps. The presence 

 of merchantable timber upon such soils thus aids, apparently, 

 in establishing agricultural use. 



In heavily timbered regions, this seldom works out. Stump- 

 age cannot be marketed at will and in many regions must await 

 the slow development of transportation and the gradual cutting of 

 the more accessible timber. The owner cannot afford to sacrifice 

 it for agriculture, except on a small portion of the area and, 

 consequently, sells this land with its timber to some lumber 

 company. In time, the land is stripped of timber and the 

 stump land is offered to purchasers for agricultural use. 



Timber values on agricultural soils cannot be regarded in any 

 sense as agricultural values, but are the equivalent of so much 

 money capital to the owner of the land. Granting that pur- 

 chasers who secure timber obtain more valuable property than 

 those who get only stump land, it is still evident that the agri- 

 cultural value of forest land must be based solely on the land 

 bare of all timber. 



240. Stump Land versus Cleared Land. The value of 

 stump land is less than that of open meadow or prairie land 

 in its wild state, by the amount of the extra cost of clearing and 

 preparing it for cultivation. The crops are the only source of 

 value, and since improved land is now bearing crops its value 

 rests on a firm basis. Between this value and that of stump land 

 is interposed the future costs of clearing and breaking, and the 

 time necessary to do the work. Fencing, development of water, 

 and buildings must be added, before agriculture can be sue- 



