21<» FELLING AND CONVERSION. 



must not be supposed that the poles which are the produce of 

 thinnings are not utihzable as timber (for paper-pulp, pit-props, 

 «fec.). As a rule, the best timber should be as straight as 

 possible : the demand for crooked and curved timber required 

 for ships, boats, wheelwrights, saddlers, t^-c, is only produced by 

 standards over coppice or hedge-row trees ; but since timl)er is 

 bent artificially, the demand for it has been reduced. 



iii. Quality nf tlie Wood. 



The first enquiry should be to ascertain whether or not the 

 wood is perfectly sound, absolute soundness being the first 

 condition of the admissibility of wood as timber ; this should be 

 most carefully investigated in the case of trees from old woods, 

 whether broad-leaved or coniferous, which are destined for long 

 water-transport, and may not be carefully treated in the timber 

 depots. The grain of the timber should be next considered, 

 whether it be coarse or fine-grained, knotty or free from knots. 

 The mode of disposal of timber from Scotch pine, larch, and 

 oak, is affected by the quantity of heartwood the trees contain, 

 also by the fact that its fibre is straight or twisted, splits easily 

 or with difficulty, its stem more or less ciackcd, containing cup- 

 shakes, c^'C. 



From what has been already said in the second part of the 

 book, it is evident that the quality of a timber will govern its 

 future mode of utilisation. 



Local defects in a stem may render only a part of it useless for 

 timber, and this is especially the case with oakwood and other 

 valuable woods. In converting such wood, therefore, great care 

 must be taken to utilize fully all the good pieces. 



The present market-prices for sound, straight-fibred wood are 

 at least 30 per cent, higher than for wood of ordinary quality, 

 with which the market is glutted. For certain industries the 

 structure of the annual zones of wood and its grain are of the 

 highest importance, as in wood for musical instruments and 

 mast-wood, also in the grain of fiincy woods for furniture. 

 The degree of fissibility is also higlily important, especially 

 in extensive coniferous forests, where a very large amount of the 

 annual yield of wood is split into various wares, and, in the case 

 of oakwood suital)le for staves. Jn some forests, ns in Bavaria, 



