LAND VALUATION 225 



interest rate. The reasons for selecting 3 per cent have 

 akeady been fully discussed, so that they need not be amplified 

 here. Second in importance is the cost of the land itself and three 

 values have been chosen, $5, $10 and $15 per acre, for this dis- 

 cussion. The cost of regeneration is assumed to be $10 per acre 

 and the annual charges for administration and protection, $1 per 

 acre. Rotations of 50, 100 and 150 years will be considered and 

 final yields of 250, 500 and 1000 board feet per acre per annum. 

 A uniform stimipage price of $10 per M has been used in the cal- 

 cidations because it seems reasonable to assume that this will be 

 an average figure for all species by the end of a rotation of 50 

 years. Stumpage prices in the United States range from $1 to 

 $20 per M with the average considerably under $10 but we are 

 fast approaching European conditions where even low grade soft- 

 wood is bringing $10 per M and high grade hardwood four or 

 five times that. In this connection it is interesting to note that 

 Kellogg and Zeigler came to the conclusion in 191 1 after a study 

 of American growth and market conditions that $10 per M was 

 a fair estimate of the average cost of timber production. No 

 allowance was made for either returns from thinnings or accel- 

 erated growth as a result of such thinning in order to have an 

 ample margin with which to offset possible losses from fire, insects 

 and fungi. That this margin is more than sufficient_will appear 

 clearly when it is considered that annual charges of 50 cents per 

 acre are allowed for protection and administration. While this 

 is not large as measured by European standards it is much greater 

 than has yet been expended over any considerable area in the 

 United States. The National Forests, for example, are admin- 

 istered and protected for less than five cents per acre, but the 

 Forest Service appropriation is so inadequate that only the 

 merest beginning has been made. 



Three yields have been used, 250, 500 and 1000 board feet per 

 annum. The first gives negative values even under the most 

 favorable conditions so that the following types may be ruled out 

 at once as unremunerative from the standpoint of timber produc- 

 tion: 



