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ADVANTAGES OF THE METHOD. It is far preferable to sell individual trees as they 

 stand, than to allow woodcutters to remove from the forest a certain number of cubic feet 

 of manufactured wood on payment of a certain fee. In the first case, the whole of a 

 tree becomes the property of the woodcutter, and it is naturally his interest to remove as 

 much of it as he can. In the case of payments by results, the interest of the woodcutter 

 is very different : he will take in each tree the choicest piece of timber, abandoning the 

 rest. Trees will be felled high and crowned low, and the logs squared wastefully, some- 

 times even rejected altogether, if better are subsequently found. Again, when the logs 

 are cut up, only the best pieces are claimed, the remainder being left some times on account 

 of very slight defects. The pieces that are left will then decay and become useless in a 

 few years. It requires some experience of South African forests to form an idea of the 

 waste that can be induced in this manner. Speaking of South Africa generally, I should 

 say that the result of the system still in force in Natal, has been that for every load 

 of wood accounted for, six or eight have been taken out, and a dozen more wasted 

 unnecessarily, by the former bushcutters. 



It may be said, that in buying individual trees, the woodcutter has no guarantee 

 that he will get sound timber in return for the license-fees which he has paid. But, as a 

 rule, woodcutters are good judges of timber and seldom buy trees at a loss. Then the 

 valuation of the timber can be made very moderate, and if there may occur exceptional 

 cases in which individual trees do not contain the quantity of timber paid for, it would 

 be very seldom that, taking all the trees on one license, or better still, all the trees felled 

 by him in the season, the woodcutter would lose by a remeasurement. At the Cape, 

 remeasurements are optional, but they are seldom asked for, and as they involve much 

 work, done to the detriment of other more important duties, it is preferable to dispense 

 with them, taking care that the valuations are moderate. To check these, and also to see 

 that the marking work has been correctly performed, a forest officer should remeasure, in 

 each section, at least 5 per cent, of the trees marked by the guard. 



An exception should be made for Stinkwood . This is a wood which is often unsound 

 at the heart, and cuts up wastefully ; the woodcutter should therefore be entitled to ask 

 for the remeasurement of logs of this species, and the forest guard would in such cases, 

 re-estimate the contents of the serviceable timber that could have been derived from all 

 the Stinkwood logs on the license, and make good the difference to the licensee. 



SECOND CLASS TIMBER. When timber is sold at a fixed rate per cubic foot, only a 

 portion is utilised, the good trees that may be easily extracted being taken, and the others 

 left. In order to increase the yield and improve the condition of the forest, all the inferior 

 or badly situated trees should be sold at reduced rates. At the Cape, this is accomplished 

 by marking certain trees at half rates, but such a course is not necessary, since it is 

 sufficient, and more effectual too, to grant at half price the trees that remain after the best 



