BUSINESS PFJXCIPLES INVOLVED. 473 



6. Modes of Sale. 



Public auction of converted wood should be considered as the 

 regular, though not exclusive, mode of sale, for it is only suit- 

 able when free competition of purchasers may be expected. In 

 slack times of trade and when markets are overstocked, also in 

 the case of very large fellings, sale by sealed tender, by unit of 

 produce or by private contract, may yield better financial results 

 than auction sales under such conditions. Wherever, business 

 being very slack, large quantities of wood must be sold in remote 

 imd comparatively inaccessible districts, the forest owner may 

 have recourse to sale of standing trees by area. Whenever it is 

 possible, however, auction-sale of converted wood is preferable. 



After considering all local and temporary objections to any 

 mode of sale, there can hardly be any difficulty in deciding which 

 to adopt in any particular case. To act by routine in such a 

 matter may cause great pecuniary loss, as experience has often 

 shown. Especially in selling valuable timber, the forester 

 should not be guided solely by custom, but should select, without 

 prejudice, whichever mode of sale is best for the case in 

 point.* 



7. Season fur Sales, 



The season when trade is most active is clearly the best time 

 to sell the produce. As a general rule, autumn, winter, and 

 fiarly spring are the best seasons for the sale of wood ; matters 

 vary locally in this respect, and the best seasons for sale depend 

 on the necessities of the consumer, the dates of final payment 

 for the wood, and the amount of leisure which the public 

 interested in the purchase of wood can command at different 

 seasons of the year ; also, as regards merchantable timber, on 

 the usual date when contracts to supply the timber are closed, 

 and the season in which, according to local custom, wood prices 

 are steadiest. 



Demands for firewood are clearly greatest in winter, whilst 

 building and industrial timbers are more in demand during the 

 summer. As, however, nobody burns green wood, but allows it, 



* [Tlie Deputy Surveyor reports that in the Forest of Dean, trees are felled and 

 sold in logs and butts as they lie. Any considerable quantity of timber is sold 

 by sealed tender, and smaller or inferior lots by private contract, at so much a 

 cubic foot for timber, varying with the girth, or in cords of 128 cubic feet.— Tr.] 



