Prices of Fo J' est Produce. 33 



ag-aiiist the sliipbuilJing and more particularly the boatbuilding 

 trade. In autumn last, when orders were usually given for new boats, 

 few were contracted for, hence the autumn auction sales, at which the 

 wood and timber for winter use are bought, were upon the whole 

 depressed and dull. 



In addition to the quotations given in the prefixed table, it may be 

 stated that the following prices are obtained for miscellaneous pro- 

 duce : — Roots for deck supports — larch, oak, and elm — about 5s. per 

 clans, or the whole root from 10s. to 30s. each according to size and 

 adaptability. The other descriptions of wood — such as alder, birch, 

 lime, sycamore, and coarse tops and limbs of timber trees — are sold by 

 the ton for fish curing, and realize for that purpose prices varying from 

 12s. to 20s. according to kind and quality, birch being of all others 

 the most preferable wood. Branches, spray, and prunings of trees 

 generally are sold either by the cart-load or by slump. Sucli produce 

 being often in places difficult of access, has therefore to be removed 

 in small quantities ; hence the advantages to both seller and buyer in 

 making the purchase by lot instead of load. Though, as already 

 stated, sales in autumn in this locality were dull and languid, in spring 

 they have greatly revived, and are at this date as high as ever they 

 were in this part of the country. 



From Scotland we have a very interesting report from Eossdhu, 

 Dumbartonshire, and which we embrace the opportunity of giving to 

 our readers, as it contains in a narrative form some valuable statistics 

 of forest produce returns : — 



" In September of last year there was offered for sale by private 

 tender a very large and excellent lot of larch and Scotch fir growing 

 on this estate. The wood in question was 90 years old, and, in point 

 of economy, ought to have been disposed of sixteen or twenty years ago. 

 It was growing on a hill called Old Midea, and formed part of a very 

 pleasant piece of landscape as seen from the ever-beautiful Loch 

 Lomond. The altitude of the situation ranges from 200 to 600 feet 

 above the level of the sea ; and at the highest points of the wood not 

 a few larch trees are growing that measure over seventy cubic feet. 

 The largest tree in this wood is a larch measuring 138 cubic feet. 

 The proportion of Scotch fir to larch is as 2 to 3 nearly ; 

 total number of trees about 11,000; area about 120 acres. The 

 surface is above whinstone, with rapid slope and fine exposure, — 

 in short, the very ideal of a larch-growing situation. The leaves, buds, 

 and bark of the Scotch fir tell plainly of its purity as the nativeplant. 



" This fine lot, which it would be found difficult to match in the 

 country, was sold to Messrs. John Edniond and Son, wood merchants, 

 Drymen, Stirlingshire, for the sum of eight thousand six hundred 

 pounds (£8,600). 



VOL. I. D 



