2U 



CHIPS AND SLIPS. 



[J.\N. 



an American paper says : — ' For 

 strength, beauty, and durability, I 

 have found August, September, and 

 October the best, and February March, 

 and April the worst months to cut 

 wood. A Eed Maple cut in September 

 will keep in a round log perfectly white 

 and sound until the next August ; while 

 one cut in March will begin to blacken 

 and decay by the middle or last of 

 June. This is not copied from any 

 scientific Avork, but is what I have 

 found to be a fact by many practical 

 tests, Gray Birch cut in September 

 will keep in a good condition until the 

 next September if left in the woods cut 

 in four-foot lengths ; while if cut in 

 March and left in the same way it will 

 be nearly worthless by the 1st of 

 August — at least, such is tlie result on 

 my land. White Pine, like Eed Maple, 

 keeps white much longer if cut in 

 September than if cut in March, and is 

 not injured by the worms so much. I 

 have found that wood dried slowly in 

 a low, cool place is better than dried 

 quickly in the hot sun, even though 

 cut in summer. May this not in a 

 measure account for wood being better 

 cut in autumn, it having the cold winter 

 to diy in 1 ' 



ARCH.qCOLOGICAL DISCOVERY IN BERK- 

 SHIRE. — Mr. Rutland, honorary sec- 

 retary of the Berks Archaeological 

 Society, assisted by Dr. Stevens, has 

 made another interesting archaeological 

 discovery near Maidenhead, about 100 

 yards west of the Thames, says a 

 leading paper. On opening a tumulus 

 in ' Batlyngemead,' a smal', angular 

 building was found, containing a fire- 

 place. Among other articles found 



therein was a quantity of buff pottery, 

 coated with greenish-black glaze of the 

 14th century. This discovery cleared 

 up the period at which the building 

 was formed, but it is diflScult to say 

 who the occupants were. They could 

 not have been very lowly people to 

 have used pottery of that character. 

 Earthenware vessels were costly at 

 that period, and even the nobility used 

 chiefiy vessels of silver, wood, or 

 pewter, on account of their durability. 

 It was thought by Mr. Rutland that, 

 as Queen Elizabeth let the fishing of 

 the Thames in parcels for periods of 21 

 years, the hut was the abode of a river 

 ranger. It might have been the casual 

 residence of a forester or ranger in the 

 ancient Forest of Windsor, which, 

 although nominally disafibre.sted in 

 the loth century, virtually remained 

 a forest for centuries after that time,, 

 as disafforestation did not mean the 

 actual destruction of the forest, but 

 the parcelling out of portions of it 

 to those who had been serviceable to 

 the Crown and others, thus leading 

 ultimately to itsdestruction. Flint im- 

 plements had been present, together 

 with bones of ox, pig, horse and 

 red deer, and scraps of Romano-British 

 pottery, similar to those fovind in the 

 mould of the Taplow mound on the 

 opposite river, proving, as he believed, 

 that various people had frequented both 

 sides of the river from the earliest 

 times, and that the Saxons in remov- 

 ing the materials of the hill to form 

 the tumulus, had unknowingly built 

 up their mound with earth contain- 

 ing relics of earlier occupants of the 

 hill. 



Vol. VIL, May to October, tsss of 



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Notice to Contributors and Correspondents. 



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