The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1915-12-30
SHOULD NOT SELL
THEIR TIMBER
Timely and WhCIas me Ad-
vice Given 0 Owners
of woodlands
PRICES OF timber RISING
Illustration Given Showing How One
Farmer Lost $1,000 Through
Sales by Lump Sum.
(By W. r. Nation, Foresty specialist)

(By w. r. Nation, Foresty Specialist)
In spite of the rise in prices of stand
ing timber and need for better farm
management, owners of woodlands
continue to sell timber blindly and
with scarcely any idea of its value.
The farmer is in reality the producer
of the timber, and owners should re-
alize this fact. A recent case in Roane
county illustrates we'll how farmers
almost give away their valuable tim
Der.
A farmer sold for a lump sum of
$500 all the merchantable pine stand
ing on his farm which he had recently
bought, giving a tWo-year term for cut
ting. The farm consisted of 250 acres
of mostly hill land, and the owner
needed some money to help pay for
the property. The location was 10
miles from a large town on a trunk
line railroad, connected by first-class
piked road and mostly a doWngrade
haul. The bulk of the pine was in
pure stands and the rest scattering
among hardwoods. A little was old
virgin yellow pine, but most of it had
come up thickly in old fields turned
out at various times, beginnin- about
20 years before the war and cOntinu-
ing down to a year or two after the
war. An average sample of the 55-
year-old pine was measured and yield
ed from 10000 to 10000 feet per acre;
fully stocked stands yielded up to
10000 board feet. The older stands
undoubtedly yielded up to 10000
where well stocked with trees. The
trees were from 70 to 80 feet in height
and measured from II to IS inches in
diameter at breast height AZ feet
above the ground).
By August, 1915, the purchaser had
cut something over 100000 board feet
and still had not less than 10000 feet
yet to cut. This made his stumpage
cost him less than 81 per thousand
feet The value of the s.umpage was
carefully figured out with the assist
ance of one of the few most expert
enced men in the county. The items
of cutting, logging, saving and haul
ing, after adding Is per cent for profit
on the operation, made the cost Of the
lumber at the railroad between $50
and $500 per thousand feet. This
same lumber is now worth $12 during
the present low prices, but up to SIS
at average prices for the past few
years. The difference between the to-
tai cost of logging, saving and mar
keting, allowing for a liberal profit,
ard the selling price gives the stump
age value, or the value in the standing
tree. At the lower selling price Of $12
for the product, the timber in the tree
was worth So to $3.50 per thousand.
The farmer thus sold for $500 tim
Der worth at least $4,000, thereby los
ing $1,000 that he, as the virtual pro-
Queer, should have had. This would
have very nearly paid for the entire
farm. Sales by the lump sum are often
very deceiving, because the price
named sounds large to the owner, who
usually has no idea of either the
amount or value of his timber. Tim
Der should never be sold by the lump
or boundary, except an estimate and
appraisal has first been made By some
competent person. When this has
been done the method Is to be recon-
mended for use in many situations
where scaling the logs would be diff
ficult or otherwise impracticable.