TO CONTRACTORS. 443 



timber is presented. If the demands of the right-holders are 

 supported by estimates made by trustworthy builders, the forest 

 manager is spared much trouble. Deliveries of wood for imple- 

 ments or industrial purposes are also similarly arranged. 



2. Wood delivered to Contractors. 



Frequently a forest owner is under agreements, more or less 

 binding, to supply wood to neighbouring industrial works ; 

 such as iron-foundries ; smelting-furnaces ; sawmills ; factories 

 for furniture, pyroligneous acid, wood-pulp, &c. ; or to con- 

 tractors or wood-merchants. Wherever the manager is bound 

 to deliver a certain volume of wood to any such establish- 

 ments, their claims must be satisfied after those of the right- 

 holders. As a rule, except after some extraordinary calamity 

 such as a storm, snowbreak, &c., the manager is not bound to 

 deliver any fixed quantity of wood to a contractor ; but an agree- 

 ment is made, to deliver to a factory or a wood-merchant all the 

 material over after satisfying the local demand, or all the wood 

 of a certain class, such as round billets, &c. Whether or not 

 a forest owner should undertake such contracts, especially in the 

 case of timber, depends chiefly on the market there is for his 

 wood. In extensive forests which are not properly opened-out 

 by roads or other means of communication, managers of indus- 

 tries which utilise wood and wholesale wood-merchants are often 

 the only purchasers ; the forest owner is then willing to submit 

 to an otherwise burdensome agreement, in order to increase the 

 forest revenue. Wherever there is a good competition for the 

 wood, there can be no reason for contracting beforehand for its 

 disposal. Not unfrequently, however, the possibility of a good 

 sale of timber, even in the forest itself, depends on the mainten- 

 ance of such industries, especially sawmills, v/hich consequently do 

 not reduce the prices of wood. This is due to the fact that saw- 

 mills favour the transportability of wood and convert it into 

 actual merchandize. Even in this latter case it is advantageous 

 to the forest owner, who wishes to support such industries in his 

 forest, to bind himself only partially. Thus it is advisable to 

 make contracts only for 2 or 3 years, and especially when trade 

 is slack. Finally, in deciding the terms of a contract, great care 



