THE PRODUCE OF WOODS AND PLANTATIONS. 1G3 



sorts. If the lot contains only one class of timber, the purchaser 

 will probably be able to give a fair price for the whole ; but if several 

 sorts are sold together, he may have to offer for timber of little 

 value to him. A better plan is this : — The timber is arranged and 

 classified as for private sales, and catalogues prepared, containing the 

 number of lots and conditions of sale. These are sent to the 

 timber merchants, who offer for each lot separately, or only for such 

 lots as they really require. This they do by marking the sum they 

 are prepared to give opposite the different lots in the catalogue. 

 The catalogues are returned under seal by a certain date, and the 

 highest oilers are accepted for the lots separately, without regard to 

 the aggregate of the whole. Thus a purchaser whose oiler is highest 

 for oak may be lowest for beech, and one whose offer is highest for 

 beech may be lowest for larch, and so on through all the lots. This 

 system has many advantages over private sales, or the plan gene- 

 rally adopted of selling timber by sealed tender. Theoretically 

 considered, the same object may be attained by accepting offers from 

 several purchasers for each lot separately, and selling in the same 

 manner as if the offers were sent in under seal. Practically, how- 

 ever, the result will be unsatisfactory ; and this is accounted for by 

 each purchaser being under the impression that there is no compe- 

 tition, and, consequently, will offer the lowest price which he thinks 

 is likely to be accepted. 



Auction Sales are best adapted for all estates where the quantity of 

 timber or other produce to be disposed of is sufficiently large to defray 

 the necessary expenses. It matters not whether the timber is sold 

 standing, or prepared for sale by the proprietor's workpeople — the 

 result, so far as selling the timber is concerned, will be the same. 

 I may remark, however, that I once attended an auction sale of 

 felled timber, which realised considerably less than the timber 

 might have been sold for privately. The number of purchasers did 

 not exceed eight or nine, and before the sale began they arranged 

 which lot each would offer for, and consequently avoided competi- 

 tion. The same thing also occurred at Highclere with a sale of 

 growing timber, which I conducted there. After dinner the whole 

 of the purchasers left the table, and were observed in the stableyard 

 in earnest conversation. I perfectly understood what the result 

 would be, and arranged with the auctioneer accordingly. The first 

 two lots were bought in at L.15 under my valuation, and in each 

 case the auctioneer gave his clerk a fictitious name. This so com- 

 pletely disconcerted the stableyard arrangements, that the purchasers 



VOL. VII. PART II. M 



