3i6 TIMBER AND TIMBER TREES. [CHAP. 



further sorting over, to secure the logs most suitable for 



-conversion into deals, and these are always in great 

 request in England, France, Prussia, &c., the respective 



•governments requiring them in large quantities for the 

 decks of their ships of war. There are also the ordinary- 

 demands of the private trade, which are sometimes very 



•considerable. To be fit for deck purposes the deals 

 must be of the very best quality, and free from large or 



-defective knots, cup-shake upon the upper or outer 

 surface, and they must also be free from sap. 



The round wood logs remaining from these two 



;Sortings serve for conversion into plank and board for 

 the home or country trade, and, as in this they are not 

 very particular about the sap-wood being removed, it is 

 all worked up very closely, and with the least possible 

 loss. The coarse and irregularly grown trees, which 

 are brought into Dantzic in a round state, are a special 

 class, and require but little consideration ; they pass at 

 once for conversion into railway sleepers, and are ex- 



, ported in large quantities to various parts of the world. 



The square timber also undergoes a very careful 

 sorting with the view to its classification under the heads 



•of crown, best, good, and common middling qualities, and 



.sometimes even making a fifth class, if it be short, small, 



or irregular.* The prices of these several descriptions 

 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 is also a small or undersized class of Memel and Dantzic Fir timber, 

 -called Mauerlatten. 



