Page:Timber and Timber Trees, Native and Foreign.djvu/253

XXVIII.] octagonal or square form, and are then called "inch-masts." These inch-masts, hand-masts, and spars or poles, if straight, and free from large knots and excess of sap, are much esteemed by the mast-makers, and are considered equal, if not superior, to those obtained from Riga.

The first selection from the round wood having been made for the mast-pieces, the remainder undergoes a 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 is 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 exported 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