PRICING A FOREST.

Hokitika Guardian, 23 July 1925, Page 1

PRICING A FOREST.

A COMPLICATED TASK. Valuing standing limber 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 are men who have acquired that ‘Teel” for limber that can he gained only by long and continued practice. The usual method is far more laborious (says the “Daily Chronicle'’). A fairly representative plot. of. say. ball an acre is selectetl. and then, with the aid of a measuring strap, the girth of each tree, at about breast height from the ground is noted. I'he valuer next determines the length oi the tree. ami. after taking the quarter girth, from which is deducted one-twelft li for ha rk thickness, can mentally estimate ncubic contents. Still keeping a careful record of all details, lie proceeds in the same manner with a second plot, id some distance from the first, and in this way strikes an average for the whole area. The valuer now knows the exact bulk of timber with which he has to deal, but lie cannot immediately determine his final figures by a consideration of tile ruling market prices. Oilier factors enter into this final reckoning. For example, the vaiue of a wood depends very largely upon ns “lie,’’ that is to say its position in relation to a main road or railway station. Again, the age and specie- ol the trees must bo taken into account.