PRICING A FOREST

Evening Star, Issue 18998, 21 July 1925, Page 2

PRICING A FOREST

Valuing' standing timber is a. more complicated task than is generally imagined. It is true that some valuers can estimate, within a. negligible percentage, the market value of a wood by doing little more than walking through it, but these aro men who have acquired that “ feel ” for timber which can be gained only by long and constant practice. The usual method ia far more laborious (says tho ‘Daily Chronicle’). A fairly representative plot of, say, half an acre is selected, and then, with the aid of a measuring strap, the girth of each tree at about breast height from tho ground is noted. The valuer next determines the length of the treo, and, after taking the quartergirth, from winch is deducted ouo-tvyelfth for bark thickness, can mentally estimate its cubic contents. Still keeping a careful record of all details, lie proceeds in tho same manner with a second plot at some distance from tho first, and in this way strikes an average for tho whole area. The valuer now knows the exact bulk of timber with which ho has to deal, but he cannot immediately determine his final figures by a consideration of tho ruling market prices. Other factors enter into this final reckoning. For example, tho value of a wood depends very largely upon its “lie”—that is to say, its'position in relation to a main road or railway station. Again, tho age and species of the trees must be taken into account.