SORTING AND STACKING. 255 



and common sorts of firewood. In the former case, the manager 

 can hardly go too far in subdividing the classes, and a difference 

 of price exceeding \d. per cubic foot should cause a different 

 class of timber to be established. 



A difference of value is, therefore, the chief reason for a 

 difference^ in class of material. 



-I. Ih'tdilwl Account. 



(a) Species. 



The species of tree has a great influence on the use to which 

 the wood can be put. Timbers of different species should, there- 

 fore, be separated into classes, or at least species of equal value 

 should be classed together. The same procedure should be 

 adopted in the case of firewood, or where there are few of 

 them all inferior kinds should be separated from those more 

 valuable. 



Of great importance in sorting felled material is the com- 

 parative abundance or rarity of any species. Thus, where 

 valuable oak wood is abundant, the chief point to attend to will 

 be to classify the oak timber; in coniferous forests, to classify 

 the spruce or pine timber, and in beech woods the beech- timber 

 and the better classes of firewood. 



(b) Dimensions. 



Logs, butts, and poles will be classified according to their 

 dimensions. As the value of a log or butt is not always 

 directly proportional to its cubic contents, but to its length, 

 or thickness, and in the case of coniferous wood to the 

 thickness of its smaller end, the pieces will be classified 

 accordingly. 



Such classes are formed according to differences of about 

 t) feet in length, and 2 4 inches in thickness. In the case 

 of valuable timber, the classification according to thickness 

 may go down to one centimeter. [Thus, in France, oak- 

 timber increases in value at about one franc per cubic meter, 

 for every additional centimeter in diameter over fifty centi- 

 meters. Tr.] The less valuable the pieces, the rougher the 

 classification, 



