470 MISC. PUBLICATION 218, U. 8. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
the sample forests are selected and valued, but more as a check on the 
general range of values and for the development of suitable methods 
and valuation instructions rather than as an absolute guide to indi- 
vidual valuations. In fact the law and instructions governing the 
1931 valuation make it clear that the assessed value of an irregular 
forest containing old timber may be outside of the range fixed by the 
sample properties. 
The responsibility for the general direction and supervision of the 
entire valuation of properties rests in a national valuation council 
(Reichsbewertungsbeirat). On this council there are experts in pub- 
lic finance, agriculture, and forestry. The section dealing with forest 
properties ‘includes six foresters. It determines the value of the above- 
mentioned sample properties, and its findings have the force of law. 
There are similarly constituted committees with advisory functions to 
assist the tax officials in the 26 State finance districts (Landesfinanz- 
amtsbezirken); these committees value the large and important 
forests. The smaller individual properties and farm wood lots in each 
local tax district (Finanzamtsbezirk) are valued by a local land valua- 
tion committee (Grundwert-Ausschuss). There are about 16 to 20 
local districts to each State finance district. The recommendations 
of the State district committees and local committees do not have the 
force of law, though in practice they are followed. Forest-land owners 
are represented on these committees, and their technical work, so far 
as it relates to forest properties, is done by foresters. 
The following description of the methods of determining the uniform 
value is based principally on instructions issued by the minister of 
finance (259) in circulars dated August 3 and August 6, 1931, and on 
a published article by an official who was concerned with the de- 
velopment of these methods (261, p. 649). 
NorMAL ForESTS wiTH WORKING PLANS 
In the case of normal sustained-yield forests or of forests approxi- 
mating such normality, the procedure is to determine first the average 
annual yield per hectare in cubic meters of solid wood (Derbholz; 
wood more than 7 cm or 2.76 inches in diameter at the small end). 
This figure is obtained in the case of large forests directly from data 
in the working plan, and it will ordinarily be the same as the annual 
cut provided for in the plan. It may be checked against the actual 
cutting records, going back as far as 1909 if possible, and against the 
yield indicated by yield tables, after allowing for loss in felling and 
correcting for density if necessary. Thus the working plan figure 
may be modified to express more exactly the average “annual yield 
which would be realized on a sustained yield basis. 
The second step is to determine the average stumpage value per 
cubic meter of wood for the products of the particular forest. Since 
the quantity of wood is determined on the basis of the marketable 
solid material or Derbholz only, the value of the accompanying fag- 
gots is included in the unit value of the solid wood. Ordinarily this 
unit value may be determined from the average price actually received 
over a period of years. For the 1928 valuation, the fiscal years 
1924-25 to 1926- 27 were used. The basis for average stumpage 
values in the 1931 valuations was average prices for the fiscal years 
1925-26 to 1929-30, with a deduction of 15 percent in view of the 
poor market since 1930. The data for average selling prices of wood 
