FOREST TAXATION IN THE UNITED STATES 135 
cover classes, but by legal descriptions (usually 40 acres), it is not 
feasible to include in tables of this kind all the descriptions within each 
selected township. Hence those descriptions not containing at least 
25 acres of a single cover type were excluded. Further eliminations 
were made of descriptions containing elements of high value which, 
though involving only small areas, might overshadow the value of the 
predominant cover type in their effect on the assessment. Accordingly 
the selected descriptions do not contain any with mineral, resort, or 
water-power values, nor any with minor areas of either cleared land or 
merchantable timber. 
TaBLE 45.—Assessment ratios based on appraisals, of selected descriptions by 
predominant cover and topography, 1926; selected townships, Minnesota } 
Upland forest 
County and township Swamp |AII forest] Cleared 
Level to Rough forest land land 
moderately and Total 
sloping sandy 
Beltrami: Percent Percent | Percent | Percent | Percent | Percent 
IHS CROCS tae re etna eS Vee ene oe 100 134 131 194 133 4 
i 0) 0) see Or ae Oe ee ee SO ES ee Ree ee Se 135 228 161 (2) 161 43 
Tee N= Gopi) aes ge i el ee AOS Wiese 22 198 344 216 57 
Hubbard: 
Wlaysese et hate ia Sk yee Ee ne he 292 270 284 (?) 286 (?) 
Crow Wine Wakes... 22) ie eee 187 274 258 395 271 80 
Wake Mmimna ster. Pups te ae es oP, oy 175 208 195 (2) 195 86 
Schooleratt sees see elke a eer ee 218 328 315 (2) 316 (?) 
Lake: 
T.59N., R.8 W. (in Beaver Bay) 4_____- 88 69 86 123 (ose Severe ee 
T. 58 N., R. 6 W. (in Cramer) ___---_-- 231 244 236 411 DANN erate ste 
T. 54 N., R. 10 W. (in Silver Creek) - _- 124 133 126 136 126 30 
St. Louis: 
Moivola cia 4 See ie Ba ee ee EN fe Td 85 (?) 85 195 140 26 
Th 54 Ne anduooeNe, pve L40Wes ee ee 200 219 209 247 2165 |b 25-5 
1 Source of data: Refer to table 24. 
2 Areas of cleared land under 200 acres and of other land under 500 acres not considered sufficient samples to 
warrant computing assessment ratios. 
3 Based only on those areas which were examined, representing 31 percent of the entire area of the town 
and 34 percent of the total assessed value. 
4 In this township, all selected descriptions classified as forest land contain merchantable timber. 
The generally high assessment ratios in Minnesota may be ac- 
counted for in part by the fact that the legal standard of assessment 
is low, being one-third of the ‘‘full and true” value for unplatted rural 
real estate. An assessed value may be very high in comparison with 
such a low standard, without this fact being so obvious as if it bore the 
same relation to full value. Also, in many of the selected townships, 
the values found by the local assessors had been uniformly increased 
by substantia! percentages in the process of equalization. 
WISCONSIN 
The assessment ratios based on appraisals of real estate in selected 
towns of Wisconsin also show marked overvaluation of cut-over lands 
in comparison with cleared lands (table 46). The two towns con- 
taining extensive bodies of merchantable timber, Bartelme and 
Laona, have timber ratios about 35 to 40 percent in excess of the farm 
ratios. The figures are based on selected forties or descriptions in 
which single cover types predominate in fixing the value of the descrip- 
tion, as previously explained in connection with table 45. 
