GROWING GOLD. 125 



It will, perhaps, be said, that if every 

 owner of an estate grow oak timber, there 

 will be a superabundance. It may be stated 

 in answer, that almost every person is a 

 consumer ; that it is the best known timber 

 for general purposes ; and, that the contin- 

 uance of the quantity of timber imported 

 depends upon several contingencies, therefore 

 liable at all times to interruptions ; and these 

 are most likely to happen when it may be 

 the most needed ; that is, in the event, or 

 even the prospect of a war. It has been 

 hinted, in a useful publication, that America 

 may, at no very remote period, cease to be able 

 to export timber to the extent it now does, at 

 the present price, and that the " three hun- 

 dred sail of shipping in the Saint Laurence" 

 may be unable to complete their cargoes pro- 

 fitably ; therefore, these considerations furnish 

 some grounds for attaching much more impor- 

 tance to this subject, than it appears entitled 

 to at the first glance ; and they afford a fair 

 presumption that the price of British oak 

 timber will not depreciate. 



