SELLING, VALUING, AND MEASURING TIMBER 157 



already said, a higher price for one or two lots than they 

 might have obtained by selling privately. 



Auction sales are probably best adapted for medium- 

 sized estates, which only cut for sales about once in five or 

 ten years, and which contain a quantity of large park or 

 hedgerow timber likely to attract buyers for twenty or thirty 

 miles round, and which can be cut at any time. Brisk trade 

 and high markets can then be taken advantage of as the 

 opportunity arises, and without disorganising the working 

 of the estate, as would probably be the case if plantation 

 timber or coppice were cut to suit the market instead of the 

 woods. Such sales can often be made up of little besides 

 prime timber, and, if held at the right time, usually go off 

 well. It is, however, an important matter to select a suitable 

 time for holding them. A few weeks may make all the 

 difference between good prices and bad, and it will generally 

 be found that better prices are obtained at the beginning 

 than at the end of the year. At the end of the year all 

 trade is usually dull, and especially the trades with which 

 the timber merchant is usually concerned ; while, with bills 

 to pay and meet, and others outstanding, there is a general 

 disinclination to launch into fresh buying until a new year 

 has commenced and the result of the old year's working is 

 known. 



Of course, where material has to be cleared at any price, 

 as in the case of under-wood, an auction sale may be the best 

 way of disposing of it ; but, even in such cases, private bargains 

 may often turn out more advantageous than auction sales, for 

 most merchants are more inclined to bid well in secret than 

 in public. 



Where an estate owner has a fall of timber to dispose of 

 annually or periodically, and which varies in quality and 

 quantity from year to year, no better method of selling it 

 exists than that of coming to an informal understanding 

 with a good local timber merchant, and letting him take 

 the lot at so much per foot, according to quality and state 

 of market. Such men do not offer extravagant prices for 

 timber as a rule, but they are generally willing to pay an 

 average price, which equals, if it does not exceed, that which 

 would be obtained by auction, taking one year with another. 



