BUSINESS PRINX'IPLES INVOLVED. 1T5 



[In India, the sales of standing trees and other produce from 

 the State forests between the Jumna and Ganges rivers, are held 

 annually in September, so that work in the forests may commence in 

 November, as soon as the healthy, dry season has commenced. — Tr.] 



Whenever large falls of timber result from storms, snow-break, 

 or damage by insects, the sales should be hurried-on and the 

 wood rapidly cleared, even if only inferior prices are obtainable ; 

 for the loss by the threatened decay of the wood is, as a rule, 

 greater than that due to a low price for it, whilst danger of 

 further damage by insects is reduced. 



8. Extent of the Sales and Sale-Lots. 



The quantity of wood offered for sale should correspond with 

 the number and position of the purchasers. In well-populated 

 districts, with a fair consumption of wood and to satisfy local 

 demands, under ordinary circumstances, a moderate supply of 

 converted wood, say 600 to 1,200 cubic meters (400 to 800 

 loads) of timber and firewood usually sell better than larger 

 or smaller quantities. In poorly populated districts with a 

 small local demand for wood, and with large quantities of wood 

 for sale and only a few wood-merchants competing, large wood 

 sales are absolutely necessary. Whether in such cases the 

 produce of several ranges, or of several felling-areas, should 

 be sold together, depends on the expected amount of competi- 

 tion. In no case should valuable timber be sold at different 

 times ; it is better that neighbouring communes, and even 

 private forest owners, should unite to hold large sales, if their 

 own fall of timber is small. 



It is evident that most large timber-sales in which only large 

 capitalists can compete, are chiefly sales of standing trees by 

 area ; for instance, in W^est Prussia, sales of 10,000 to 20,000 

 cubic meters (7,000 to 14,000 loads) of standing wood for three 

 or five years are eftected. Sales of 5,000 to 6,000 cubic meters 

 (8,500 to 4,000 loads) of converted timber are not rare ; as, for 

 instance, in the forest ranges of Jachenau, Walchensee, &c. of 

 the Bavarian Alps, also in the case of the enormous masses of 

 wood killed in S. Bavaria by the nun-caterpillar, for which sales 

 of 400,000 and 500,000 cubic meters were held. It is not 



