TIMBER-ASSORTMENTS. 



235 



production of timber is really large only in Saxony, and was 

 as follows in 1899 : 



All these figures are not prepared on the same basis, 

 as in Saxony 60 per cent, of the wood is used for paper- 

 pulp and mine-props, while the comparative richness or 

 poverty of a country in coal affects greatly the demand for 

 firewood. In the Bavarian Alps nearly all top-and-lop is 

 left in the forests, so that the percentage of wood brought 

 out is 90 per cent, in timber. Such figures therefore are 

 of relative value only. 



2. 



It is evident that generally the woodcutter cannot undertake 

 to prepare timber for the market in the ultimate form it 

 assumes when taken over by the different industries. This 

 would require much too extensive a knowledge of the latter- 

 As a rule, therefore, it suffices to divide the trees into trans- 

 portable pieces which by their dimensions and qualities are 

 suitable as the raw material of an industry, or of a whole group 

 of industries. The further detailed conversion may be left to 

 the special industries, or to the wood-merchant. In small 

 private forests, however, matters may go further in this 

 respect. 



[The best example in Europe of detailed conversion as well 

 as of labour-saving means of transport may be seen in the 

 Sihlwald, belonging to the town of Zurich, where the wood 

 is converted on the spot into all kinds of commodities, down 

 to wood-wool for packing. Tr.] 



The various pieces into which a tree may be converted by 



