WOODLAND WORK AND WORKING PLANS 195 



of clearing and replanting which are often so conspicuous in 

 English wood management, and which incurs such a loss 

 upon the owner who first attempts to avoid them. 



The individual estate proprietor is at a disadvantage 

 with respect to working plans, owing to the fact that he 

 usually stands practically alone in his particular district. 

 If the woodland proprietors of a certain district could agree 

 to work their woods as a whole instead of as distinct units 

 on each estate, they could command the market to a much 

 greater extent than is the case now. The timber cut in each 

 district would be regulated to meet the local demand, instead 

 of any rise in the market being met by a simultaneous fall 

 of timber over the whole district, and resulting in the market 

 becoming glutted in the course of a couple of months. 



Such agreements present many difficulties, and are only 

 a form of that co-operation which seems incapable of being 

 organised in country districts. Hardly a sale takes place at 

 which some agreement amongst the buyers is not arrived at, 

 by which one is prevented from bidding against another. 

 But one rarely hears of any counter agreement amongst 

 timber sellers which prevents the local market being over- 

 stocked. We have no faith in any attempt to fix the price 

 of any class of timber, for this must always depend upon 

 quality and the locality in which it is grown ; but we certainly 

 believe that the sales in a particular district might be so 

 arranged as to prevent one from clashing or reacting against 

 another. That a number of sales in one particular district, 

 and at one time, do react against one another and tend to 

 lower prices, is obvious if one takes the trouble to look into 

 the matter. With the exception of first-class timber, for 

 which manufacturing buyers often go long distances to obtain, 

 the bulk of the timber is used in the same district as it is 

 grown in, or is at any rate converted in that district. If 

 one watches the buyers and prices given at most auction 

 sales, it will be generally found that the highest prices are 

 given by small buyers, who buy for their own use or for a 

 particular purpose. Large buyers, on the other hand, either 

 buy comparatively cheaply, or belong to the immediate 

 neighbourhood. Why is this ? Because the man who buys 

 on a small scale has already found a use for the timber, 



