34 ^/^^' Joufmal of Forestry. 



" Owing to tlie considerable distance of the district from a market 

 the prices realized for wood on the ground are by no means high. 



" In February of this year a hag of oak coppice was offered for sale by 

 public auction. Along with this coppice there were between 200 and 

 300 oak standards from 40 to 100 years old, and 300, or thereby, 

 larch trees from 20 to GO years old, and also a quantity of small birch, 

 beech, and alder. The whole lot was purchased by Messrs. Eichard 

 McLean and Son, wcod merchants, Callander, for the sum of nine 

 hundred and eighty-six pounds (£986). 



" The estimated weight of bark is. lofi tons." 



Travelling further south, we find in Wiltshire, as in many other 

 parts of England, the utmost divergence of custom in realizing the 

 produce of the forest, and we therefore, as one out of many instances, 

 give the particulars of the use and wont and mode of dealing in 

 Wiltshire, premising that almost each county or central market for 

 wood disposal has its own custom. From the return kindly given to 

 us from Longleat we are informed that the distance from a railway 

 station is from three to five miles, and that the nearest market for 

 pitwood is from ten to twelve miles distant. " The home timber trade 

 has not been brisk for eighteen months or more, and it is still dull 

 and depressed. I*revious years' prices are scarcely obtainable, parti- 

 cularly in the case of second-rate and inferior timber. Copse-grown 

 ash is in most request, and commands a ready sale at a high price — 

 a fact which ought to convey a lesson to planters having an eye to the 

 future wants of the timber trade ; in a favourable soil and site it should 

 be planted in preference to any other kind of hardwood, as it is almost 

 certain to prove the most profitable timber tree for extensive planting. 

 Oak timber of first quality and of large girths is in fair demand, but 

 the small and secondary class does not find a ready sale, consequently 

 the prices for this latter descriptioji of timber are lower. English 

 elm of long lengths, clean, sound, and of large girths, is in request. 

 Wych elm of first quality sells readily at a fair price. Lime of good 

 quality is eagerly sought after ; it is a valuable, and at the same time an 

 ornamental timber tree ; in good soils and rather sheltered situations 

 it is a fast grower, and would be a profitable tree to plant. Beech, if 

 clean and upwards of 12-inch quarter girth, is readily sold at previous 

 prices. Sycamore is of little value unless upwards of 21 inches 

 quarter girth, and must be very clean grown ; butts of this description 

 sell higher than almost any other kind of British grown timber ; it is 

 used for rollers in many kinds of machinery, and I believe the best 

 market for sycamore is in Manchester, where it is used extensively in 

 the cotton mills for rollers. Alder, Spanish chestnut, poplar, and willow 

 timber is not in much request in this locality. Walnut, when old, 

 dark-coloured, and richly figured, sells at a good price ; the larger roots 



