Forest Finance and Management 157 



reference to market facilities and market price. In 

 one respect we are undoubtedly at a disadvantage 

 to the European. His forests are mostly in close 

 proximity to densely populated districts. Conse- 

 quently he has a market for a number of minor 

 forest products which we cannot utilize. He may 

 sell the nuts, berries, and mushrooms growing in 

 his woods, although in many cases a benevolent 

 custom allows the poor people of the neighborhood 

 to avail themselves of this not quite inconsiderable 

 revenue. There is very little waste in felling, for 

 the branches and tops, which we must leave on the 

 ground as a constant menace of fire, he binds into 

 fagots and sells at a reasonable price for fuel and 

 other purposes. The cost of transportation from 

 the mill to the consumer is apt to be less. As to 

 the average price of lumber in Europe and this 

 country, it is not easy to make accurate compari- 

 sons. In the first place, in Central Europe at least 

 there is comparatively little use made of soft-lum- 

 ber boards, most of their spruce and fir timber be- 

 ing used in the shape of beams, while nearly all our 

 pine, spruce, and fir lumber consists of boards. It 

 is rather difficult to make precise calculation in 

 converting the price of one of these into that of the 

 other. Moreover, prices in Germany and France 

 are quoted for the cubic metre, while we use the 

 foot board measure as the unit. This adds another 

 element of difficulty and uncertainty. If one wants 

 to compare the prices, not of sawed lumber, but of 

 logs, in the forest or at the mill, the first difficulty 



