Editor s Box. 499 



SPRUCE TIMBER. 



Sir, — Mr. "Wilkie appears to be labouring under the impression that I 

 have been takini;,' a one-sided view in this discussion. Now as far as I 

 understand the term " one-sided," it means that a person from a certain 

 standpoint looks at one aspect of a subject only, and declines to believe 

 the fact that others may have just reasons to view it in a very different 

 light. Well, the position Mr. Wilkie occupies just now is this, — 

 he asserts that soil and situation do not affect the lasting qualities of 

 spruce timber so much as the proper seasoning and ventilation of it after 

 it is cut ; and further that the spruce throughout the whole of Scotland is 

 of uniform good quality. So certain is he of this, that he says I have only 

 to take a tour through the country to gather information on the subject, 

 and I will come to the same conclusion as himself. This may be what he 

 considers a very liberal view of the subject, but I fear it is also one-sided, 

 because, as I have said before, I can put my hand on indisputable evidence 

 that in no sense does it apply to the spruce grown here. Whatever the 

 causes may be of this difference may be a matter for discussion, but the 

 fact that it is so is beyond dispute, so that the only way of reconciling this 

 conflicting experience is to admit that at least there is one locality in 

 Scotland where inferior spruce is produced. My friend weakens rather 

 than strengthens his position when he assumes that our timber is not cut 

 at the proper time, nor yet well seasoned, because he has no right to 

 assume anything of the kind, and for aught he knows to the contrary we 

 may be doing the very thing he recommends. I hope, therefore, he wili 

 not insist on your readers accepting the incredible proposition, that the 

 spruce timber here must be good because it happens to be so elscAvhere. 



The evidence which he has furnished us with about his redoubtable 

 spruce fence has not been quite satisfactory, as in his original statement 

 about it he led us to believe that it was made up entirely of spruce, and 

 that it had stood for thirty years without needing repairs. It turns out, 

 however, not to be a ivoocl fence at all, as the term is usually under- 

 stood, but a imve fence with a wooden rail on the top, three-fourths of 

 which, notwithstanding the coating of tar, has had to be renewed as well 

 as half the stobs. Were these latter spruce too ? or larch ? Such evidence 

 is far from being conclusive. 



If it is true that a " simple statement for or against the durability of 

 spruce timber is not enough," then every word which our friend has written 

 on this subject must fall to the ground as unworthy of notice, since as 

 yet we have got nothing even from him but a •' simple statement," and 

 according to his own showing that " is not enough." He has, in short, 

 committed the very foolish act of cutting off the branch upon which he 

 was sitting ! Further, he has not the slightest hesitation in believing in 

 events that took place thirty years ago in reference to the minutest details 

 connected with the shipping, storing, and charring of stobs for a paling, 

 but when he is asked to believe another fact that rests precisely on the 



