42 BULLETIN 481, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



of 2 cords of " stove wood" (16-inch lengths) per acre per year and 

 proceeds to cut and sell this amount each year. Although he does 

 the cutting and hauling at times when his men and teams would 

 otherwise be idle, he decides to figure the cost as though he actually 

 paid to have the work done and finds the cost to be $3.50 per cord, 

 delivered. He sells his wood at the rate of $i.50 per cord, clearing 

 $1 on each cord sold. Since the annual growth per acre is 2 cords 

 the income amounts to $2 per acre. Arbitrarily deducting 50 cents 

 to cover one year's taxes and interest per acre, the remainder, $1.50, 

 represents his net income. Capitalizing this at 5 per cent (see Table 

 13) he finds that the producing value of his land for the wood crop 

 is $30 per acre. A very little figuring of the costs and values of 

 other crops which might be raised on the same soil will enable him 

 to decide whether, from a standpoint of direct income only, he is 

 justified in keeping the land under timber. The indirect values al- 

 ready discussed should, of course, greatly influence his decision. 



The possibilities in regard to marketing the products of the wood- 

 lot naturally differ a great deal in different regions. * They are best, 

 as a rule, in thickly settled regions, where there are good roads and 

 railroads, a large variety of manufacturing plants using wood, and 

 better chances for securing competitive bidding for the products in 

 the woodlot. Industries manufacturing cooperage, handles, spokes, 

 hubs, basket and box veneer, novelties, spindles, etc., often present 

 a better market for logs and short bolts than could be obtained if 

 the trees were sawed up for lumber; although good logs of oak, 

 yellow poplar, basswood, etc., may bring high prices at established 

 mills for the production of high-grade lumber for furniture, finish, 

 patterns, and other uses. Plants manufacturing special articles 

 often employ buyers skilled in judging timber for the use for which 

 they wish it. who travel through the farming sections buying in- 



1 Farmers are usually much better versed in selling other farm crops than in selling 

 wood, and so when the wood crop is sold the problems which are involved in getting the 

 best returns from it are likely to be perplexing. Furthermore, when the wood crops are 

 many years apart the success of the undertaking depends a great deal more on getting 

 a good price for the product than is the case with ordinary crops, with which a single 

 bad bargain will affect only a single year. Before selling woodlot material, therefore, 

 the farmer ought to obtain all the information possible on the following points : The local 

 and distant markets and the shipping rates to them ; the prices which different markets 

 will pay for the same kind of timber, together with the specifications of each market as 

 to size, shape, and quality ; the cost of getting out the products (whether or not the 

 farmer expects to do his own logging) ; and an estimate of the amount of different kinds 

 of standing timber in bis woodlot in the most profitable units (that is, as board feet of 

 logs or lumber, cords of bolts or bark, and number of ties, poles, posts, etc.). Through 

 ignorance of these things many farmers have sold timber far below its real worth, while 

 others have held stands for excessively high prices until their best trees became practi- 

 cally worthless through decay. 



The procedure which should be followed in making sales from woodlots is not within 

 the scope of this bulletin, but is discussed in detail in Department of Agriculture Farm- 

 ers' Bulletin 715, " Measuring and Marketing Woodlot Products." In most of the 

 eastern States free information is also available on application to the State Foresters 

 or to the State Agricultural Experiment Stations. In some States bulletins on marketing 

 woodlot products within the State are available. 



