y. Prices on wood products vary not only from
state to state but also within a state as well. The things you ought to
know are the sizes and the grades of the timber that you want to sell,
since they determine price. Now, there are publically employed foresters
available to help you. They know your local conditions. The
manufacturer's markets determine what he can afford to pay you.

For example, we organized some walnut marketing pools in Illinois during
the war. I suppose a half million board feet of Illinois walnut was sold
for gun stock material. One company was buying most of the product of
the pools. Later we found that this company had a market for low grade
stump veneer. Most of the other companies would mark a half dozen trees
for their stumps. This company would buy 35 to 40 stumps. Every buyer
looked at the same quality and quantity of material, since the trees
were all marked. In this case, however, the difference in markets
determined the price the manufacturer could pay.

Another thing that concerns price is what we call "logging chance" or
how easy is it for the buyer to harvest those trees. I imagine anyone
buying trees in Pennsylvania would have considerably more difficulty in
getting them out than he would in Illinois. The differences in equipment
and methods used to harvest the trees all have a bearing on the price
paid the timber owner.

Hickory is commonly sold for handle stock. Wood for striking-tool
handles has a definite restriction in the specifications on the number
of rings allowed per inch of growth. The Federal Government grades
handles on the basis of growth rate. From 17 to 22 growth rings per inch
is specified. Timber buyers don't want logs grown any slower than 22
rings per inch and those grown a little faster than ten rings per inch
may be acceptable.

Now, as to determining the trees to sell. I mentioned a 16-inch diameter
limit. A few trees smaller than this with logs shorter than 8 feet in
length may be accepted if a large quantity of wood is to be sold. It has
to be economically worth while for the buyer to harvest and transport
the wood, or he can't afford to buy it. Each buyer of course has a
different set of specifications. You ought to measure and _mark_ those
trees you want to sell and ask the buyers to bid only on those marked
trees.

Buyers like to approach the timber owner with, "You have some timber I
can use. I'll give you $100 for what I can use." That is the same
a