REVENUE FROM OAK-COPPICE. 513 



quite inadequate for tlie tanning industry, as may be seen from tlie 

 following figures taken from the official returns for 1894 : — 



Re-exports of Cutch and Gambler and of raw hides have been 

 deducted from the gross returns of imports. — Tr.] 



(c) Mode of Sale. — It has already been shown that tanning- 

 bark should generally be sold by auction before peeling the 

 coppice, but that sale by private contract is also sometimes 

 advisable. Sales by private contract, however, should not be 

 conducted in ignorance of the proper price of bark, and should 

 be avoided, unless there are large quantities of bark for sale. In 

 no case should small sales of bark be held ; large sales are better 

 attended, when several neighbouring forest owners unite to sell 

 their bark. Such large sales of bark are held at Heilbronn, 

 Erbach, Hirchhorn on the Neckar, Bingen, Kreuznach, Kaisers- 

 lautern, and Riidesheim, the State and neighbouring private 

 forest owners and communes combining to sell their produce. 

 Samples of bark are produced at these sales, which in the Rhine 

 valley, &c., consist of a piece of wood 7 to 8 inches long, cut 

 3 feet above the ground from a coppice-shoot, and unbarked. 

 Each sample bears a label, on which the name of the owner, the 

 forest, age of the coppice, aspect, altitude, soil, and quality of 

 the bark is stated. The results of the sale are published annually. 

 Up to the present time, unfortunately, only a small part of the 

 bark produced is thus sold. Many communes and private 

 owners abstain from these sales from short-sighted motives, to 

 the prejudice of their own interests. 



Wherever the climate and soil are undoubtedly favourable to 

 bark-coppice, and the best attention is paid to produce bark of 



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