SELLING, VALUING, AND MEASURING TIMBER 163 



sales of timber on neighbouring estates, as already re- 

 ferred to. For these to be of any value at all, the timber 

 concerned must be personally inspected and its quality 

 compared with that to be valued, otherwise the mere state- 

 ment of price per foot is valueless. But, over and above 

 this, the fact must be recognised that auction prices by no 

 means necessarily vary with the quality of the timber for 

 which they are given. The tactics of the auctioneer, the 

 possibility of " rings," and the personal feeling which may 

 underlie the bidding for particular lots, tend to render 

 auction prices anything but safe criterions of the local value 

 of timber, and the owner or agent who sells or expects to 

 sell at a similar rate is likely to be badly taken in, or 

 grievously disappointed, as the case may be. 



MEASURING STANDING TIMBER. 



To the uninitiated there is always something mysterious 

 about the measuring of standing timber. It is a difficult 

 matter to understand how the height, girth, and cubic 

 contents of a standing tree can be ascertained accurately 

 enough for sale purposes, without going to the trouble of 

 employing a ladder and other implements, which necessitate 

 several assistants and a considerable expenditure of time. 

 Yet practical timber growers no more think of employing 

 a ladder to ascertain the height or girth of a tree, than an 

 old horse-dealer thinks of employing a vet to certify the 

 soundness of every horse he buys. In both cases instinct 

 and the law of averages are depended upon for satisfactory 

 results ; and if a tree is occasionally reckoned at more or less 

 than its true contents, or a screw is taken for a sound horse, 

 it is considered better to run the risk than to go to the 

 extra expense which continual verification would involve. 

 No doubt, if a valuer had only one tree to measure, or a 

 dealer had only one horse to buy, common sense would 

 dictate the exercise of a little extra trouble and care in 

 preventing mistakes. But when large numbers have to be 

 dealt with, necessity knows no law, and absolute accuracy 

 is neither expected nor obtained. We have heard, it is true, 



