188G.] LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 771 



Any trees or shrubs broken or overlnilancecl by the late snow- 

 drifts should be assisted, and the injury repaired as far as possible, 

 and especially broken branches lopped off, and the wounds properly 

 dressed. 



C. Y. MiCHIE. 



Oi'LLEX Iloi'sE, 21111 Fehriiary 1886. 



j^ETTERS TO THE ^DITOR. 



RATING OF FOREST LANDS. 



DEAPt SIR, — The report in your Marcli number of Forestry on 

 the " Eating of Forest Lands " is very interesting. I shall 

 be looking forward for further comments on the same subject, as I 

 find, from my own experience, that the assessments for rates on 

 woodlands are almost always at too high a figure. — Yours faithfully, 



Frank T. Hussey. 



TiiK PoKTMAX Estate Office, Tjie Gjiove, 



ClIEDDOX FiTZPAINE, TaUXTOX, 



nth March 1886. 



BVR ABILITY OF OAK SAP WOOD. 



SIE, — I note at page 708 of your March number of this journal 

 that Mr. Michie states, " The sapwood of oak cut in winter, 

 o.nd used vnth the harh on, has been known to last two and some- 

 times three times longer than it does when peeled." I beg to differ 

 from him. I grant that oak felled in winter, from which the bark 

 has been hewn on four sides, before the sap flows, will last not only 

 two or three timee longer, but will last sound as long as the heart. I 

 remember the Town Hall at Welshpool, taken down in 1840 ; this 

 building was said to have been erected about the year 1000, and was 

 therefore 840 years old. The oak beams had portions of bark in 

 many places remaining on them, and the sap was as sound as the 

 heart. When our Government were using large quantities of oak 

 timber for shipbuilding, they used to stipulate that certain classes 

 of oak trees should be " winter-felled," and for which they paid a 

 price sufficient to compensate the merchant for the bark; but these 

 were hewn or sawn before the sap flowed, as it is a well-known fact 

 that, although trees may be felled in winter, a few nice warm sunny 

 days will be sufficient to cause the bark to slip almost as well as if 



