TIMBER VALUES 1^7 



Mossy Tjrpe. — Another relatively unimportant type is the 

 dense but scrubby tree growth found on the exposed mountain 

 summits. None of these produces in sufficient amount to pay 

 for its exploitation. 



Timber Values. — The determining factor in the methods of 

 tropical estimating are the low values of stumpage per M and per 

 acre. Even the valuable cabinet woods like mahogany and 

 ebony are worth very little standing. They only become so 

 when transported long distances to the user. As a consequence 

 it is not worth while to estimate them closely. It is sufficient to 

 determine that there is at least so much on a given tract. In 

 other words, estimates of tropical timber need to be especially 

 conservative. A wide margin of safety must be present in an 

 enterprise which involves so many risks. By way of comparison 

 the woodlots of New England lie at the other extreme. The 

 manufacturing plants are close at hand and transportation never 

 makes up more than 20 per cent of the sale value and from 

 50 to 25 per cent is paid for stumpage. 



The problem being then to determine within 25 per cent how 

 much timber there is on a tract relatively crude methods may be 

 used, provided care is taken at every point to be on the safe side. 

 Liberal allowance must be made for defect. While strips are 

 safer, sample plots will often be good enough especially for large 

 tracts. They should, however, be distributed in some regular 

 maimer or the tendency will be to take them in the better timber. 

 Preferably they should be at fixed distances apart but time inter- 

 vals will serve for large tracts if the rate of travel is kept uniform. 

 For example a tract may be traversed at intervals of a mile and 

 sample plots one-quarter acre in size taken every one-quarter mile. 



The costs of such estimates will necessarily be low per acre but 

 relatively they will be high because of the cost of travel to the 

 tropics. There are few firms that make a specialty of estimating 

 tropical timber and maintain local agents. Consequently it is 

 usually necessary to send from the temperate zone a man who 

 is sufficiently acquainted with tropical conditions to make a safe 

 estimate. But even under these circumstances a tract of 

 100,000 acres ought to be valued for two cents per acre. 



