PROFITABLY DISPOSING OF HOME-GROWN TIMBER. 153 



more general. The mode of tender should he stated in the conditions, 

 but it is usually given by offering a slump sum for each lot, or in the 

 case of coppice woods a rate per acre. If desirable, it can be given 

 at a rate per tree, or any number of trees, or per foot. It is always 

 understood that neither the number nor classing is guaranteed, and 

 the offerers are always held as having satisfied themselves on these 

 points before offering ; and no claim on the grounds of any short- 

 comings or inferiority can afterwards be entertained. The party 

 whose offer is accepted is held bound to subscribe a formal agreement 

 of sale embracing the general conditions. The cost of sales by tender 

 seldom amounts to one per cent, of the sum realised. The only 

 objectionable form of sale by tender is where an agreement is entered 

 into, or an offer accepted for a given number of trees, at a fixed 

 rate before the trees are actually marked or counted. In the case of 

 thinnings and prop-wood this has often been done, but the results 

 have generally been so unfavourable to the seller that the mode 

 has seldom been tried a second time. Such forms of sale are 

 unsound in principle, and the failures resulting therefrom are owing 

 to the defective agreement, and not to the sale by tender. 



II. Sales by Public Auction. — This mode is specially adapted for 

 disposing of timber grown within easy reach of a good market, or 

 adjacent to manufacturing towns; and also for all mixed lots of wood 

 suitable for country purposes. In fact, firewood and wood suitable 

 for fencing are often sold by auction at rates above market prices. 

 However, in the preliminary arrangements a good deal of expense 

 is incurred, as previous to the sale the wood has to be cut and lotted 

 as near good roads as possible, and the several lots distinctly num- 

 bered. The relative value should also be ascertained, so that a reserve 

 price may be put in if required. 



In preparing the lots great care is needful to separate the trees 

 suited for different purposes, and to arrange those adapted for the same 

 purpose in lots to suit purchasers. The reasons are obvious, as 

 parties who may wish one class of wood for one purpose may not 

 want another, and would be prevented from offering ; or if they did 

 offer, it wovdd only be by putting a small value upon the class they 

 did not want — a value, in fact, at which they could dispose of it 

 readily to another party. In the neighbourhood of Edinburgh 

 sales by public auction are common yearly, or in some cases half- 

 yearly sales being an institution on some estates. They are also 

 generally adopted throughout Scotland for selling mixed lots. Even 

 some of those who sell their large lots by tender, adopt this mode 



