SALE OF AN ENTIRE COUPE STANDING, 127 



high prices at suhsequent sales ; but the trees proving unsound, 

 heavy losses are incurred. The confidence of dealers is thus once 

 for all shaken, and in future, however good the trees may be, the 

 rates offered are based on the assumption that the trees are no 

 better than the worst descriptions obtained before. 



Hence, •when the quality of the trees is very variable, it is best to 

 charge the purchaser rates based on unit of volume or number of 

 pieces of converted material. When volume forms the basis, a con- 

 siderable amount of labour is inevitable in working out the total 

 sale-value, if the number of pieces to be measured is large. 

 Moreover, very few of our Indian purchasers are familiar with the 

 methods of timber measurement. Hence, except for large logs, the 

 contents of which obviously differ very much one from another, it 

 is best to fix the rates on the basis of number units, which can be 

 understood by the most illiterate purchaser. The unit rates on 

 which the value of the produce is calculated must of course be ori- 

 ginally fixed by measure of volume. The use of the numerous pub- 

 lished tables of timber measurement will aid very materially in 

 lightening the work of calculation in either case. 



In some places, the better class of timber dealers care to utilize 

 only the best logs and to take out only timber of the highest 

 quality. Such purchasers will either leave the inferior timber 

 untouched, or, as they look only for large profits, will take it out only 

 at disproportionately low rates. In such cases it is best to admit in- 

 to the coupe two or more separate purchasers following each other, 

 the first taking out only the finest timber, the second the next best 

 class, and so on until every saleable stick has been removed. This 

 method has been followed for many years in the forests of the Cen- 

 tral Circle of the N.-W. Provinces and Oudh with the best results 

 It is peculiarly suitable for India, where the small dealers are men 

 who are satisfied with profits giving them an average income of a 

 few rupees a month ; but it necessitates keeping even the smallest 

 coupe open for exploitation for at least a couple of years, as it would 

 be impolitic to let in a new purchaser until the previous one bad 

 cleared out all his produce. But even when the owner of the 

 forest sells the whole produce of the coupe to a single purchaser, 

 it will often happen that this latter will himself remove only the 

 best timber and admit petty tradesmen and consumers to take out 

 the rest at prices which he will constantly lower as the better 

 class of the remaining material is taken away or the distance or 

 difiiculty of transport increases. 



When the value of the coupe is estimated in a lump sum, this 

 amount should be recovered in not less than two instalments, the 



