I/O THE NEW FORESTRY. 



foresters to do the work for them, in which case the vendor 

 has to pay both. The agents we speak of have usually their 

 head-quarters in London and in a few other large towns. 

 They do not care to trouble with small or poor lots, but prefer 

 to v deal with large trees and large quantities of undoubted 

 quality that anybody can sell, and they set the lots out them- 

 selves. Gentlemen are written to by such firms that they have 

 been engaged to dispose of the valuable lots on Mr. So-and-So's 

 estate, in the neighbourhood of the party addressed, on a 

 certain date, and their patronage is solicited at the same time, 

 the plea being urged that their extensive acquaintance with 

 timber buyers enabled them to bring noted buyers to the sales 

 that would not otherwise attend, and that the result was sure 

 to be advantageous to the vendor. With the phraseology 

 slightly altered, the above is a copy of a communication of this 

 kind. We have looked into sales of this description conducted 

 by well-known London firms, two hundred miles from London, 

 seen the lots after they were set out, and been present at the 

 sales, and our opinion is that a loss may be sustained by 

 employing such agents, but no advantage gained. One 

 example may suffice. A London surveyor and auctioneer was 

 appointed to sell several thousand pounds' worth of oak timber 

 on two different estates. His charge was seven-and-a-half 

 per cent, on the sales, and with the aid of his men, who came 

 with him, the lots were set out over the heads of those in 

 charge, and the sale was transferred from the usual place to 

 an hotel in another town. We went, previous to the sale, to 

 every tree marked, and found that the process of valuing and 

 setting out consisted in simply marking the best and biggest 

 trees in the wood — a mere timber merchant's device — without 

 regard to the future crop. At the sale the old faces were 

 present — all local men — and every lot went to the same pur- 

 chasers as before ; the finest lot going to a timber merchant 

 who resided about four miles from the wood. The fact is, as 

 every forester and timber merchant knows, that timber in the 

 rough is one of the most expensive commodities to move 

 about, and | those purchasers and consumers who live near the 

 spot where the timber is can, as a rule, afford to give the best 

 prices and do give them. There are buyers in or near all 

 towns of any importance, and they will buy near home if they 

 can, to save carriage, and the difference goes into their pocket 

 and that of the vendor. We have known purchasers to encum- 

 ber themselves with lots they did not need at the time because 

 they happened to be near. We are here speaking of general 



