PROFITABLY DISPOSING OF HOME-GROWN TIMBER. 77 



One great advantage of this method is the cheapness with which 

 a sale may be effected. Of course, I recommend it to he cut down 

 previous to being sold ; but where it is desirable to sell a lot of 

 timber standing, I recommend tender instead of auction sale 

 "When sold in this way, the plan generally adopted is to inform the 

 timber-merchants who are likely to become purchasers by circular 

 of the number of trees and quality of timber to be disposed of, and 

 the date by which the offers must be sent in, said offers to be in 

 accordance with conditions of sale specified ; and as none but timber- 

 merchants of good standing would be informed of the sale, the 

 highest offerer should become the purchaser, upon agreeing to and 

 signing the conditions mentioned. 



Selling Timber Privately. — This mode of selling timber — al- 

 though adopted on some estates for disposing of large quantities 

 of timber, both standing and fallen — is only suited for supplying a 

 local dealer with a few trees (by privately I mean where only one 

 merchant is invited to become purchaser). As competition is the 

 life of trade, I prefer it in every instance where it can be brought 

 into play. And if a lot of timber reaches the value of L.20, I 

 should certainly say, sell it by tender. "When there are only a few 

 trees to be sold, they should be cut down and measured, the market 

 price per foot being charged for them. 



Selling Timber in a Manufactured State. — On some estates there 

 is a saw-mill, at which timber is cut up into boards, palings, stobs, 

 pit-props, gate-posts, &c, and sold. Some people recommend this 

 method as a profitable way of disposing of inferior lots of wood ; 

 but I think there are stronger reasons against than in favour 

 of it. For instance, to keep the saw -mill going, some trees 

 are very likely to be cut down and sawn up that ought to have 

 been left growing ; besides, I have no doubt the extra money got 

 for the wood is spent in manufacturing it, as there are not the 

 appliances or division of labour to work with that are found in an 

 establishment fitted up for that particular trade. I am certainly of 

 opinion that on every large estate there ought to be a saw-mill, 

 especially where water-power is available ; but this should be used 

 only to cut up wood for estate purposes, or to supply the tenants 

 with fencing material at market price. 



I have not said anything about " conditions of sale," in regard to 

 any of the methods mentioned, as different districts require different 

 conditions ; but care should always be taken not to make too loose 

 arrangements about the payment of timber, as many people seem 



