BRITISH TIMBER.
During last week in two very different parts of England— one was Berkshire, the other Lancashire—I happened to come across examples of the very best and the very worst timber production. It is frequently said that English hard woods, though of high quality, may be utterly valueless. Such critics may be interested to know that at a sale last week the timbers of a single English oak tree sold for just over £200 ! The oak was, of course, of exceptional size and quality ; and, as it was felled in 1908, the wood was more or less seasoned. So far, so good ; but here is an opposite experience. Some fine Spanish chestnuts (whose wood is in many respects similar to oak and of high intrinsic value) were recently felled and offered for sale. But no offer of any sort whatever has been made. The merchants say, " There is no demand " ; and at an era when the world's supplies of wood are dwindling, when the imports to Britain are multiplying—even in hard woods British timber of the best sort is a drug in the market, a cause of actual loss to its owner. An immense amount of intrinsically valuable British timber is valueless. One reason, which it may be of some service to emphasize, is the rarity of saw mills.
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