46 WHITE PINE TYPE 



hubs. It is also somewhat used for boxes and crates and for 

 furniture parts which will not be seen such as drawer backs. 

 All the species are thrown together commercially, but white and 

 rock elm make up 80 per cent of the total cut in the United States. 

 Of these two, rock elm is the tougher but does not reach such large 

 size. An average sale value at the woodworking plant for elm 

 lumber was $30 per M in 1914 but this must be wide, selected 

 stock. The logging and miUing are expensive and could seldom 

 be handled for less than $10 per M. Close to centers of popula- 

 tion the cordwood in the tops and small trees could be marketed 

 for about $4 per cord so that there was a possibility of increasing 

 the gross yield per tree by that much, there being at least a cord 

 of wood in the limbs and tops to the thousand feet of lumber. 

 Hence the largest possible gross returns that could be expected 

 were $34 per M. From this should be deducted $10 for logging 

 and milling, a variable amount for freight and $2 to $3 for cord- 

 wood making and delivering. This left a possible margin for 

 stumpage and profit of about $15 per M. In spite of increased 

 sale values there has been no increase in this margin because 

 operating costs have grown at the same or a greater ratio. 



Land Values. — Land values within the white pine type are 

 difficult to determine accurately for two reasons. First, there 

 is the cause already referred to in the spruce and hardwdod types, 

 that the land is seldom appraised separately from the timber. 

 This, however, only holds in the case of large tracts like those in 

 northern. Michigan^ In the woodlot region another reason 

 obtains. There, farms are sold as a whole and it is difficult to 

 separate the values of the tillable land, the buildings and the 

 woodland. Nevertheless, the land has a tangible value which 

 may be closely approximated by using the prices at which pasture 

 is held. Much of this class of land has been allowed to grow up 

 to woods so that it now makes up at least one-third of the present 

 woodlot area in the older sections Uke New England. Pastures 

 of the rough, stony type which have been allowed to revert to 

 woodland are appraised at $5 to $15 per acre and these figures 

 may be taken as representative of the better kinds of white pine 

 land in the. woodlot region. 



