474 MISC. PUBLICATION 218, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
are assumed to offset each other, and the figures of the tables, though 
based on results obtained with large forests, are applied to small 
properties without correction except to allow for exceptional con- 
ditions. Arbitrary application of the tabular values is not con- 
templated, but local investigations of growth and price relationships 
are expected to show what modifications may be necessary. 
The instructions call attention to the necessity of giving special 
consideration to forests in mountainous situations, of unusual densi- 
ties, and in process of conversion from coppice to high forest, so that 
due allowances may be made in each case. 
RESULTS 
The above-described assessment procedure has been attacked by 
individual foresters on various grounds. The most common criticisms 
appear to be that it promotes use of arbitrary figures based on yield 
tables and general averages as against actual results reflecting the 
individual circumstances of particular properties, and that the 
method of appraising irregular forests is unsound and gives too high 
results for young stands. Alternative methods of appraising young 
stands have been proposed, including use of the expectation-value 
formula, which would give much lower assessments with an interest 
rate of 5.556 percent (the capitalization rate now in use) and would 
give about the same assessments with an interest rate of between 2 
and 3 percent. It has also been charged that errors are frequently 
involved in the method of valuing mixed stands by treating them as 
equivalent to groups of pure stands of the same aggregate areas, 
especially if the mixture contains a protective understory. The plan 
of basing average price of the total wood products on the price of the 
principal product has been called a source of error, especially in the 
case of small forests with a much lower proportion of saw timber in 
the product than is the case with the large forests which supplied the 
data for the valuation council’s ratios. The 1928 assessment of a 
certain large forest was said to have been placed too high because the 
yield in wood, since it included small material from beech thinnings, 
contained an unusually high proportion of low grades and therefore 
had an average value less than the normal figure used in the appraisal, 
as this figure was based on the average price of a normal assortment 
of sizes. Whatever foundation there may be for the various criticisms 
which have been made, it is evident that in spite of the very great 
effort to evolve a fair and worl <able plan of valuation, the results 
thus far attained cannot be said to give entire satisfaction. Further 
improvement may be looked for, but it is doubtless very difficult to 
obtain uniformly accurate forest appraisals at the low cost required 
for assessment purposes. 
TAXATION OF PUBLICLY OWNED FORESTS 
It was difficult to obtain precise information as to the liability to 
taxation of publicly owned forests in Germany. The practice generally 
seems to be very complicated and the laws themselves are not c.ear 
in all cases. 
The forests of the National Government, States, and communes 
are apparent y exempted by law from the property tax and the land- 
transfer tax of the National Government. There appear to be excep- 
tions to this rule in practice, for the forest belonging to the city of 
