43^ '//^^ yo2U')ial of Forestry. 



instaDcc of the necessity of thorough seasoning and good ventihition, that 

 iie had used a piece of pitch pine in the construction of a house eight 

 years ago, and found that it was now entirely eaten away by dry rot, con- 

 sequently it had to be renewed. Here then I might take up an argument 

 against the use of pitch pine, and say spruce timber would last as long 

 as pitch pine, while another party who may have used pine for fifty 

 years would say the opposite. Therefore a simple statement for or 

 against the durability of spruce timber is not enough, and a simple state- 

 ment from an individual like Mr. Baxter, interested, I foncy, in the dis- 

 posal of that class of timber he is seeking to lower in estimation and con- 

 sequently in value, is not what I would expect. I maintain that the 

 Dalkeith spruce is really not such worthless stuflF after all, if cut at a proper 

 time and well seasoned, and gets sufficient ventilation after being used in 

 the construction of buildings, fences, &c. I had the keeping in repair of 

 the fence referred to for five years. When I got charge of it I was told it 

 was erected twenty-four years previously, and it stood two years after I left 

 the place before it was removed. 



When I left there were nearly three-fourths of the rails left on the fence 

 (but I may mention there was only one on the top, and five lines of wire 

 underneath). When I went to the place the oldest Avood on the property 

 was sixty years of age, and the next oldest forty years. The rails were 

 cut out of the thinnings of these, chiefly out of the younger, which proves 

 the value of spruce timber to the proprietor on the west coast of Scotland. 



The largest trees must have been selected, no doubt. In regard to the 

 stobs in this same fence, the original ones would count more than one-half 

 of the whole number when I left. They were purchased from a neigh- 

 bouring proprietor, shipped home and stored in a dry and airy shed during 

 the winter months. By the latter end of spring they were thoroughly 

 seasoned, when they were charred for two feet up the pointed end, and 

 as soon as taken out of the fire, dipped in boiling tar ; as soon as dried 

 they were carted off to line of feuce, and immediately driven in the line. 



Regarding the piece of hardwood used at junctions of the rails, 

 ko,., I would advise a large enough hole being bored in it to allow 

 a suitable nail to pass through it into the stob, and by using two pieces 

 at all junctions of the rails, the nails Avill not split the hard wood 

 piece at all. F.or my own part, if the stob and rail are sufficiently 

 .seasoned, I cannot see how any defect would be made in the fence by simply 

 resting upon a small surface. Neither the strength of the stob or rail is 

 reduced, and if the nail is firmly driven, I fail to see any weakness, and 

 the placing of the hardwood, as described, does not affect the strength 

 at all. 



If Mr. Baxter wishes the argument upon spruce timber continued he 

 should gather up a regular authentic account or a variety of statements 

 regarding its quality, &c., &c., and give us a general summary of all the 

 particulars, such as age, classes of soil grown upon, exposures, what season 

 ■of the year felled, how it was seasoned, and where or to what applied, and 



