FOREST TREES. 213 



It has long been known that summer or early autumn is the 

 season most favorable for the felling of timber, where the object 

 is strength and durability. Nearly a quarter of a century ago, 

 Timothy Pickering showed by experiments which he adduced, 

 and by sound reasoning, that summer is better than winter for 

 this purpose. A writer in the New England Farmer, who " has 

 wrought more timber than most men, and for more uses than 

 he knows of," is satisfied that September is the best time for 

 felling trees ; and that if the tree be disbarked in June, and 

 allowed to stand till September, the timber will be stronger and 

 more durable ; and that timber felled in September will not 

 suffer from red rot or from powder post. 



The naturalist, Buffon, after numerous experiments carefully 

 made on a large scale, and continued through many years, 

 arrived at the conclusion that nothing contributes so much to 

 the solidity, strength and durability of timber as completely 

 stripping the trees of their bark some years, at least three, before 

 they are to be felled. This should be done in the spring, when 

 the bark is most easily separable. Timber, managed in this 

 way, was found to be sometimes a fourth part stronger than that 

 from trees in the same forest, and in all other respects precisely 

 similar, treated in the usual way ; that is, felled with the bark 

 on, and dried under the open sky, or under sheds. 



In regard to the planting of forests, Mr. Emerson remarks : — 

 All the birch trees, especially the black and the white, are so 

 valual^le for timber and for fuel, that their cultivation should be 

 earnestly recommended. They flourish on all kinds of soil, even 

 the poorest, spring most readily from seed, and grow very rap- 

 idly. " Birch seed ripens in September and October, and may 

 be either gathered and sown immediately, or preserved in a dry 

 loft and sown in spring." " It is scarcely possible," observes 

 Savy, " to cover birch seeds too little, if they be covered at all." 

 The plants, if sown in autumn, will come up in the following 

 March or April. If sown in spring, they will come up in May 

 or June, which, in very cold climates, is the preferable season. 



" Young birch plants taken out of coppice woods when about 

 two years old, are found to root much better than seedUngs of 

 the same age and size, taken out of a regular seed bed ; doubt- 

 less, because, in the latter case, a greater portion of the tap root 

 requires to be cut off. 



