456 DISPOSAL AND SALE OF WOOD. 



large number of purchasers assembled, only a few of them 

 will have the requisite presence of mind to make a bid at the 

 right moment ; customary usage may be against this mode of 

 sale. 



[Dutch auctions are preferred in France in the sale of 

 standing trees in the principal fellings, because there are a 

 body of large contractors, termed adjudicataires, who make it 

 their business to purchase the marked trees standing on a 

 felling-area, and convert and remove them for sale to smaller 

 dealers or industrial enterprises. These men visit every 

 felling-area within they: beat, measure and estimate the value 

 of every marked tree ; they know exactly what amount they 

 can afford to pay for the trees and bid accordingly. French 

 foresters consider that Dutch auctions prevent the purchasers 

 from agreeing not to out-bid one another ; a purchaser cannot 

 know beforehand at what figure any other purchaser will buy, 

 and therefore dare not delay too long in his offer to purchase, 

 fearing lest the lot should fall to another person. In France, 

 the felling-areas are subdivided into lots, which are marked out 

 on the ground : no lot should exceed 10,000 francs, 400, in 

 value. Tr.] 



(b) Procedure in Auction-Sales of Wood. 



When once the mode of disposal of the produce of a felling 

 has been decided, the wood that is to be auctioned should 

 be carefully valued without loss of time. Then the date of 

 the auction should be fixed, and this, as well as the place 

 where the auction will be held, and the list of material to 

 be sold, should be advertised publicly. The procedure of 

 the auction itself begins by an announcement of the conditions 

 of sale made to protect the seller against injury or loss, the 

 lots are then put-up successively at the fixed upset-price and 

 knocked down to the highest bidder ; the highest bid is there- 

 fore the price of each lot. As soon as the last lot has been 

 sold, the auction is concluded by ascertaining the total price 

 paid for each wood-assortment and for the whole of the 

 produce which has been sold. 



The success of the auction will depend in some measure on 



