CHAPTER XXII 

 LAND VALUATION 



While the value of the land itself has been practically negligible 

 in the past in most sales of timbered lands, it is daily assuming a 

 more important role. The days when a timberland owner could 

 afford to throw the land away after he had cut off the merchant- 

 able material are over. The land itself, even tho it is rough and 

 stony, can be used for the production of other timber crops or 

 selected portions devoted to tillage, residence purposes, etc. 

 Then, too, few cuttings absolutely denude the ground. There is 

 usually some young growth which will become merchantable 

 within a short time. For these reasons every timberland owner 

 is more or less interested in knowing how much his land is worth 

 irrespective of the merchantable timber on it. 



The first step is to determine the area. Usually this is done in 

 connection with the estimate of the timber and may vary in 

 accuracy from the roughest kind of a guess to an accurate transit 

 survey. Usually, however, a method midway between is chosen. 

 Transit work is much too expensive except where the land values 

 exceed $50 per acre which is seldom the case with woodland. The 

 compass is the instrument most widely used in woods work 

 because it is rapid and accurate enough if due care is taken in its 

 use. Unlike the transit the adjustments are simple, it is quickly 

 set up, stands hard service, and does not require much brushing 

 or swamping. The commonest source of error is local attraction 

 of the needle but this can be guarded against by back sighting. 

 All in all it is the ideal instrument for the woodsman. For the 

 rapid filling in of details a hand compass is sufficient, in deep 

 soiled woods a larger instrument mounted on a Jacob's staff gives 

 more accurate results, while on roads and rocky ground a tripod 

 is handy. The only kind of woods work for which it is not 

 adapted is rough mountainous regions where a few high points 

 command the territory. There some form of planetable cuts 



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