THE NEW FORESTRY. l8l 



has to pay both. The agents we speak of have usually their 

 head-quarters in London and in a few other large towns. 

 They do not care to trouble with small or poor lots, but prefer 

 to deal with large trees and large quantities of undoubted 

 quality that anybody can sell, and they set the lots out them- 

 selves. Gentlemen are written to by such firms that they 

 have been engaged to dispose of the valuable lots on Mr. So- 

 and-So's estate, in the neighbourhood of the party addressed, 

 on a certain date, and their patronage is solicited at the same 

 time, the plea being urged that their extensive acquaintance 

 with timber buyers enabled them to bring noted buyers to 

 the sales that would not otherwise attend, and that the result 

 was sure to be advantageous to the vendor. With the 

 phraseology slightly altered, the above is a copy of a com- 

 munication of this kind. We have looked into sales of this 

 description conducted by well-known London firms, two hun- 

 dred miles from London, seen the lots after they were set out, 

 and been present at the sales, and our opinion is that a loss 

 may be sustained by employing such agents, but no advantage 

 gained. One example may suffice. A London surveyor 

 and auctioneer was appointed to sell several thousand pounds' 

 worth of oak timber on two different estates. His charge was 

 seven-and-a-half per cent, on the sales, and with the aid of 

 his men, who came with him, the lots were set out over the 

 heads of those in charge, and the sale was transferred from 

 the usual place to an hotel in another town. We went, 

 previous to the sale, to every tree marked, and found that the 

 process of valuing and setting out consisted in simply marking 

 the best and biggest trees in the wood a mere timber mer- 

 chant's device without regard to the future crop. At the 

 sale the old faces were present all local men and every lot 

 went to the same purchasers as before ; the finest lot going 

 to a timber merchant who resided about four miles from the 

 wood. The fact is, as every forester and timber merchant 

 knows, that timber in the rough is one of the most expensive 

 commodities to move about, and those purchasers and con- 

 sumers who live near the spot where the timber is can, as a 

 rule, afford to give the best prices and do give them. There 

 are buyers in or near all towns of any importance, and they 

 will buy near home if they can, to save carriage, and the 

 difference goes into their pocket and that of the vendor. We 

 have known purchasers to encumber themselves with lots they 

 did not need at the time because they happened to be near. 

 We are here speaking of general lots of timber. Trees of 



