140 THE MANAGEMENT OF WOODLANDS. 



The capital in forestry, consisting of the land + the growing- 

 stock^ which combined form the woodlands, may be valued by 

 one or other of four methods : 



1. Actual cost of production, so far as concerns the timber- 



crops ; 



2. Market value, if sold or compared with similar ad- 



joining properties ; 



3. Its prospective value as to future net income ; and 



4. Its capitalised value estimated on the average annual net 



income (where C = 100 x net annual income -=- rate %). 



When it is desired to compare the present and the prospective 

 net yield of any two mature or maturing timber-crops, the indi- 

 cating percentage (see p. 102) is a simple formula for practical use. 



In all calculations net income has to be taken i.e., gross 

 income less all charges for felling, logging, extracting, &c. ; and 

 it is only by thus applying strictly actuarial methods of 

 calculation that approximately correct estimates can be made. 

 And to be quite correct, all marketable minor produce, shooting, 

 fishing, &c., should be taken into account as well as timber, 

 and due allowance made for the annual outlay on management, 

 planting, upkeep of roads, rates and taxes, &c. 



In the Valuation of the Land for Rating, &c., the land, 

 and not the timber-crop, is assessed. In Scotland the estimated 

 annual rental value of high woods or coppices is taken as the 

 rent the land in its natural unimproved condition might reason- 

 ably be expected to fetch if let for pasture or grazing. Under 

 English law, the standard prescribed is practically much the 

 same, being based on the agricultural value of land in its 

 " natural and unimproved " state ; and in the Rating of Planta- 

 tions, Woods, &c., it is the land, and not the timber, under- 

 wood, or other produce of the land, which is made the subject 

 of assessment ; and if the land used as a plantation or a wood, 

 or for the growth of saleable underwood, is subject to common 

 rights, it is exempt from the poor rate and other local rates. 



