American Forest Congress 127 



certain a further rise in its stumpage value. Many 

 lumbermen who acquire stumpage at 50 cents per 

 thousand now credit it in their operations with $2.50 

 to $3.50, and believe that in twenty years it will have 

 a value of at least $10 per thousand. This probable 

 rise in the value of longleaf pine stumpage is the 

 obvious reason for the existence of companies which 

 hold large timber tracts, but do not operate them. 



Just here it will be well to emphasize a point which 

 has an important bearing upon the calculations of 

 the financial results of lumbering longleaf pine 

 conservatively. The timber which the Kaul Lumber 

 Company leaves standing after lumbering, consists 

 entirely of small trees below 18 inches in diameter 

 on the stump, the value of which is considerably below 

 the average run of the forest. Every tree contains 

 more or less material which produces lumber of so 

 low a grade that it hardly pays the cost of manufacture, 

 but the smaller trees saw out the grades of low value 

 in far greater proportion than the larger trees. 



In, connection with the preparation of a detailed plan 

 for the conservative management of the company's 

 timber lands, an extensive investigation was made 

 in our saw mill at HoUins, Ala., to determine the 

 amounts and comparative values of the grades which 

 trees of different sizes will produce. The result of 

 this experiment proved conclusively the relatively low 

 value^ of the lumber produced from small trees, and 

 was an important factor in influencing the company 

 to lumber conservatively — in other words, it went 

 still farther to establish the bad business policy of 

 putting small trees into the mill, rather than leaving 

 them to reach a more profitable size. 



I have found that in forestry, as well as in lumbering, 

 close attention to details is the key to success, and 



