THE PRICES OF HOME TIMBER. 229 



We must add that not only is the foreign product, as a 

 general rule, superior in quality to the home product, but 

 the industry, by reason of its size and importance, has the 

 advantage of thorough organization. The saw-milling business 

 of Northern Europe and North-Western America and the 

 merchants and brokers connected with the trade form highly 

 organized bodies for the protection and advancement of their 

 common interests. They conduct their business on up-to-date 

 lines and deal in very large quantities. They are consequently 

 in a position to gauge market requirements with great accuracy 

 and to secure the highest possible prices. The supply of timber 

 is not only large but also fairly regular, and the requirements 

 of the various consumers, as to size, etc., are carefully studied. 

 The timber is also carefully graded and each class is uniform 

 in quality throughout. This is far from being the case with 

 the home product. 



The want of organization is more injurious to the home trade 

 than any inferiority of quality that may exist. That this is so 

 is proved by the fact that even those timbers such as oak and 

 ash, in which we have an admitted superiority, do not command 

 a ready sale, for often it is found that consumers are short of 

 supplies while producers are unable to find a market for their 

 produce, and owing to the same want of organization rather 

 than to inherent defects of quality the reputation of home-grown 

 coniferous timber is so bad that it is often prohibited by 

 architects in their specifications. 



Coniferous timber is mainly produced in the North of Scotland, 

 but also in varying quantities in other parts of the United 

 Kingdom. Hardwoods, especially oak, are very often the 

 predominant crop in the South of Scotland and in England. 

 Home timber of all kinds usually comes into the market in 

 very irregular quantities, and at uncertain intervals. In some 

 cases the lots offered are so small that it hardly pays a merchant 

 to handle them ; the marketing of the timber where the wood- 

 land area is small presents a very grave difficulty, and one for 

 which there is no ready or general remedy. 



There are several reasons for this : haphazard management 

 is the fundamental trouble : many owners and managers of 

 considerable woodlands do not know approximately the area 

 of ground under timber ; the financial embarrassment of estates 

 and recurrent windfalls, added to this haphazard management, 



