16 



to be of real use to the actual operator ; but in taking up, on our own 

 ground, the forest problems which confronted us, the Bureau of 

 Forestry has demonstrated, on our tract at least, the eminently practi- 

 cal character of its work. Actual measurement of the forest on 5 per 

 cent of the lands developed the fact that by curtailing the present 

 cut by less than 20 per cent, the company could, after tw^enty years, 

 again obtain an amount equal to 45 per cent of the present cut. 

 This, at the present value of stumpage, figuring at compound inter- 

 est, is a 2 per cent investment, but assuming a rise in stumpage value 

 to $5, it is a 6 per cent investment. Should the value of stumpage 

 reach $10 per thousand, which we confidently believe will be the 

 case, the value of the timber in tAventy years time will represent an 

 investment of 10 per cent. Included in the calculation is a liberal 

 allowance for the value of the land and of the timber held over, 

 and for taxes and for cost of protection. * * * The timber 

 which the company leaves standing after lumbering consists en- 

 tirely 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, for the 

 smaller trees saw out the grades of low A^alue in far greater propor- 

 tion than the larger trees. * * * An extensive investigation was 

 made in our sawmill at HoUins, Ala., to determine the amount and 

 comparative values of the grades which trees of different sizes will 

 produce. The result of this experiment proved conclusively the rela- 

 tively low value of the lumber produced from small trees, and 

 was an important factor in influencing the company to lumber con- 

 servatively ; in other words, it went still further to establish the bad 

 business policy of putting small trees into the mill rather than 

 leaving them to reach a more profitable size. 



J. E. DEFEBAUGH, 



Editor American L-umberman. 



* * * The lumbermen of the country have keen interest in the 

 work which has already been done by the Bureau of Forestry and 

 in other practicable features of its work which have been hardly more 

 than initiated. * * * They have viewed with concern the rapid 

 disappearance of their woods, and have to a large degree come to a 

 realization of the serious meaning of the annihilation of their forests. 

 * * * Within a few years there has been a marked change among 

 lumber operators in this respect. This has come about largely 

 because of the increased wealth and intelligence of the men who now 

 control a large percentage of the merchantable timber of the country. 

 It is impossible that such men should not realize the importance and 



