60 GROWING GOLD. 



thinned too much. It was stated by a person 

 who had witnessed several falls of timber, that 

 at least two thirds of it was decayed, and the 

 oldest timber in the centre of the park bears 

 striking evidence of its having long ceased to 

 increase in value. In various parts of the 

 park several trees were lying down, the re- 

 mains of former falls, all of them more or 

 less decayed; whether they were unsold, or 

 the purchasers had failed to take them away, 

 could not be ascertained, but probably the 

 former, for a purchaser seldom gets a good 

 bargain in buying decayed oak timber, unless 

 the grower makes a considerable allowance ; 

 as there is no calculating the extent of the 

 defects, it is generally an article not readily 

 disposed of in large quantities. 



Before oak timber arrives at a state of 

 natural decay, it often becomes of a mahogany 

 colour, which decreases its value at least one 

 fourth or two fifths ; for the best quality 

 would be cheaper at five shillings than red 

 oak is at three shillings per foot. 



