LEGAL VALUE OF SHADE TREES 
23$ 
had to be removed, and a guaranty is required to protect 
the owner in the matter of satisfactory growth for the 
transplanted tree. 
(3) The Roth Method. —This was evolved by Professor 
Filibert Roth, Dean of Forestry at the University of Michi¬ 
gan, and is based on profound study and observation 
covering many years. In his lectures Professor Roth 
discussed the subject for a generation or more and his 
calculations attracted such widespread attention that they 
were published in the Michigan Manual of Forestry , Vol. II. 
As a minimum estimate Professor Roth advocates com¬ 
puting the cost of establishing a tree at $15, plus com¬ 
pound interest at 5 per cent, for the 25 years which must 
elapse before the tree has achieved its full value by reaching 
the point of development at which it is really serving its 
full purpose. After this point has been reached, he figures, 
the tree “pays its own way” by its usefulness and beauty. 
The value of the tree, at the end of the 25 year period, 
therefore, is the #15 investment with added interest in the 
sum of #36.80, or a total appraisal of #51.80. Professor 
Roth suggests further that the cost of caring for the tree 
might also be added. 
(4) The Circumference Measurement Method. —This 
allows a valuation of approximately #5.00 per inch of cir¬ 
cumference, breast high measurement. 
(5) The Diameter Measurement Method. —Many 
landscape architects, foresters and others, who have given 
serious thought to the subject, advocate the method which 
bases appraisal on a tree’s diameter 4^ feet from the 
ground. This plan allows #10 per inch of diameter. 
(6) The Square-foot Basal Area Method. —This plan, 
devised by Mr. George H. Parker, of Hartford, Connecti¬ 
cut, bases valuation on an allowance of #75 per square 
foot of basal area, breast high measurement, subject to 
