234 TIMBER AND TIMBER TREES. [ CHAP. 
vary with the quality and average length ; and, at the 
present time (1875) in the London market, they stand at 
about seventy to ninety shillings per load for best, sixty 
to eighty shillings per load for good, and fifty-two to 
fifty-eight shillings per load for common middling. The 
crown and the fifth class being special distinctions, are, 
respectively, a little above and a little below these 
prices. 
There are no reliable or recognised official brands by 
which the several qualities of Dantzic Fir timber may be 
known, there being no sworn Bracker to make the 
sorting ; consequently, as each merchant acts for him- 
self, he can give to it any particular distinguishing mark 
he pleases, and of course this will be only known in 
his own private circle, or, at most, to the trade of the 
district. The result is, there are often as many marks 
for each quality as there are merchants dealing in the 
article, thus making it necessary to see the several kinds 
in order to determine which would be most suitable for 
the work to be done. The practice is not a very satis- 
factory one, since it is not an uncommon thing to find 
the best middling timber of one merchant 3 to 4 or 5 
per cent. better in quality than that of another, and the 
same with regard to each of the other classes brought 
into the market. 
Dantzic Fir is employed more extensively in civil 
architecture than, perhaps, any other description of wood 
for joists, rafters, trusses, floors, scaffolding, &c. ; it also 
enters largely into the construction of bridges and 
railway works; indeed, it is not too much to say that 
few works in this country are ever carried on without 
its capabilities being in some way turned to account. 
In ship-building it is employed for beams to carry the 
upper and lighter decks, occasionally for bottom plank- 
