234 FOREST VALUATION 



Of these five items of value only the revenue from sale of 

 mature timber is immediately available. This is comparable 

 with the revenue from the current crop on agricultural land. 

 When ready to harvest, it greatly exceeds the latter as it rep- 

 resents a long accumulation. 



244. Value of Young Timber as a Part of the Value of Forest 

 Soil. When comparing the value of land for forestry with 

 agricultural values, we assume that the land has some value 

 for agriculture. Absolute forest soils, whose agricultural use is 

 impossible, need not be valued in order to determine the class 

 to which they belong. 



Where agriculture is possible, but its profitableness is ques- 

 tionable, and the cost of clearing is high, the value of the land 

 for forestry may greatly exceed any value for farming. Here 

 a calculation of forest values will be of great assistance in deter- 

 mining the best disposition of the land. 



Agricultural soil is always regarded as bare land and the value 

 as that of the soil itself, not including crops which may be grow- 

 ing. This is merely because of the short crop period. In 

 reality the standing crop increases the value of the property 

 while present and is the source of this value, and a purchaser of 

 the land must either permit the former owner to harvest the 

 crop or pay him for it. Forest land to be compared with agri- 

 cultural land on the same basis must be bare of timber. But 

 it is the timber crop that gives the land whatever forest value 

 it has ( 1 1 6). In actual practice, forest land is seldom in this 

 bare condition. As seen in Chapter VII, the actual value of 

 forest property depends upon the closeness of the date of realiz- 

 ing the income from the timber. The value of the timber may 

 be separated from land if necessary, but this separation is arti- 

 ficial (135). The real value of forest property is based on the 

 actual condition of the stand, its age and size. Forest values 

 differ from agricultural values in that they fluctuate over long 

 periods with the growth and removal of the crops instead of 

 maintaining a reasonably constant relation from year to year. 

 The lowest ebb is represented by bare land, and in a system of 

 clear cutting this condition is attained but once in the period of 



