THE COMMERCIAL ASPECT OF BAEK-PEELING. 445 



Tlie cost of labour in peeling and harvesting is . .£150 per ton. 



The cost of cartage from the woods to a railway station, \ 



including gathering, loading, etc., ... J " 



Loss on say four months' delay in getting the timber, \ 



which, but for the bark, would have been cut [ 5 ,, 

 down in winter, or four months earlier, . . ) 



Superintendence and extra general expenses of peeling, . 16 ,, 



£2 16,, 



These figures, which are an actual outlay, represent a fair 

 average distance from a railway, but they may be somewhat 

 altered favourably or adversely, according to situation. To this 

 sum we may add 10 jier cent, for risk in harvesting the bark — a 

 minimum allowance, as it not unfrequently happens that an un- 

 favourable season ruins half of the bark, which brings up the 

 figui-es to £2, 5s. 6d. per ton. 



It is impossible to arrive at an exact estimate of the loss of 

 timber caused by felling the tree at barking time, trees differing con- 

 siderably, according to circumstances, in the proportion contained 

 in them of sap wood, but when we strike off one-seventh, or 14 

 per cent., we arrive at a very fair average in the ordinary growth 

 of oak trees. This proportion of wood cannot be altogether 

 reckoned as lost, but for conversion into railway waggon timber, 

 and for all other purposes where timber of the best quality is 

 required, the tree must be altogether relieved of the sapwood. 

 The purposes to which oak containing sapwood may be applied 

 are consequently very limited, but to give a fair allowance we 

 may reckon that 2 per cent, of it may be profitably utilised. 

 This leaves us with a net loss of 12 per cent, on the whole tree, 

 and unfortunately not only has the first cost of this wood been 

 lost, but also all expenses connected with it, including labour, 

 cartage, carriage, etc., fall to be added to the loss. A fair piice 

 for the wood is 2s. per cubic foot, 12 per cent, of which is as 

 nearly as possible 3d. per foot. We have, therefore, to debit the 

 peeling process with the deficit on 160 feet to the ton of bark at 

 3d., amounting to £2, which, with the £2, 5s. 6d. already men- 

 tioned as the actual oncost of production, brings the total up to 

 £4, 5s. 6d. per ton. A sum, however, falls to be allowed to the 

 credit of this amount by the saving effected on the cartage and 

 carriage of the oak timber on account of the reduction of its 

 weight by peeling. This allowance cannot be very well computed, 

 as the distance to whicL oak is conveyed varies to a large extent. 



