202 VALUATION, DEPRECIATION AND THE RATE-BASE 
per acre and a determination of the land value from the net 
return resulting from growing such a crop is held to be too 
speculative and no doubt with reason. But the court should 
not be denied such information as would be collected by a pru- 
dent purchaser who neglects no source of information when he 
makes up his mind what would be a reasonable price to pay 
for the property sought to be acquired, and there should be no 
testimony excluded which will throw light on the circumstances 
which affect or fix the market value. The favorably disposed 
purchaser will not restrict himself to the questioning of those 
only who are supposed to have general knowledge of the market 
value resulting from every possible use. He will rather make 
inquiry along every possible line and will not neglect special 
adaptability to a particular purpose. He will want to know the 
strategic value of the property when made use of for the special 
purpose to which it is supposed to be best adapted. If the 
value for such a special purpose can be ascertained with due 
consideration of all elements involved — adaptability to special 
uses with due allowance for risk, the cost of development, the 
cost of operation, the immediate or deferred market for the 
output or service and the prospective net return that will result 
from the use of the property, — the knowledge so obtained will 
aid the purchaser in reaching his conclusion concerning what 
a well-informed public would consider such a property worth. 
The amount which a particular municipality or a person who is 
seeking to condemn a property can afford to pay cannot, how- 
ever, be made the measure of the market value. This may 
define an upper limit. More cannot be paid by that munici- 
pality or person. The purchase at the full amount determined 
by such necessity would deprive the person, who wishes to utilize 
the property for the special purpose to which it is adapted, of a 
margin of profit to which such person is entitled. 
In the light of the foregoing it would seem reasonable to 
exclude from the consideration of the courts in condemnation 
proceedings evidence relating to the value expressed in money 
for such special uses as can be exercised only by the person who