C02 EDITORIAL NOTES. [Feb. 



incidents, that according to its demand Ly the railway companies 

 will be its price. 



Next in importance as consumers may be mentioned the wheel- 

 wright and coachbuilder, who have to supply the means for the 

 vehicular traffic of tlie country. The agricultural implement maker 

 then follows, and here, owing to the depressed condition of agricul- 

 ture, we have to record a slackened demand. 



The agricultural depression has, however, also affected the English 

 timber merchants in another Avay, and it may be said that in 1885 

 the two influences neutralized each other in their bad effects. Land- 

 lords have found rents to depreciate, and consequently have been 

 obliged to fall back on their timbered lands for the deficiency, — though 

 on a well-managed estate timber should be cut every year; and 

 had it not been for this circumstance, English timber merchants 

 would have had to pay a higher price for their wood, as in tlie 

 market of 1885 there was not, as there had been in previous years, 

 a large quantity of blown timber, the old stocks of which have now 

 nearly vanished. And, finally, as a channel of consumption, we 

 may mention boat and barge building. 



The war scare proved a boon to the English timber merchant, — 

 as for ambulances, v/aggons, gun-carriages, boats, etc., large quantities 

 of wood were required, and the stocks in the yards about April were 

 completely cleared to meet the demands of the Government. This 

 was a sort of counteractive to the lessened requirements in other 

 quarters, and for this fact and for tlie reason that only English 

 timber, as we have already mentioned, is applicable in certain uses, 

 prices have not depreciated in the same degree as for foreign wood, 

 and stocks are much lower, especially spokes. On the whole, the 

 volume of trade may be said to have pretty closely corresponded 

 with that of 1884, though in some cases, perhaps, slightly lower 

 prices have had to be accepted. 



Our contemporary. The Indian Forester, for December, contains a 

 " Memorandum on the Colonial and Indian Exhibition, to be opened 

 in London in May next," which furnishes some interesting data as 

 to what may be expected in the shape of exhibits of forest products 

 from India. His Eoyal Highness the Prince of Wales, who is 

 taking a deep interest in the matter, writes, in a letter enclosed in 

 a despatch from the Secretary of State for India, in February 1885: 

 — " Much interest is taken in this country in the woods of the 

 various colonies and dependencies of the Crown ; and I shall be 

 glad if a good representation of those of India is made." 



