624 The yournal of Forestry. 



slight impulse to the wedge will topple over the tree with a crash, so 

 familiar to woodwards, but so startling to an onlooker for the first 

 time, who finds himself in a shower of dust and splintered branches 

 that fall harmlessly around him; in the midst of a din and shock that 

 makes the ground tremble beneath his feet, the growth of perhaps 

 three or four centuries lies prostrate. The woodward glances at the 

 exposed end and sees its condition as to soundness, perhaps could 

 tell you, within a foot, its cubical contents — "round measure." If 

 he sees five or more radiating brown lines from the heart to the bark, 

 he shakes his head and mutters, " Firewood ! " Tliese marks are 

 sometimes shakes caused by the tree being smitten by lightning, 

 rendering it almost useless except for firewood or fencing purposes. 

 For the benefit of any forester who may think the primitive method 

 of axe-felling a large tree the best, I will point out the technical 

 disadvantages to the forest owner, and absolute loss of valuable 

 time and of timber by waste, and lessened measure of the most useful 

 part of a tree chopped down. 



By axing down a tree, the chopping begins from six to nine inches 

 above the ground, working obliquely downwards, at about an angle 

 of 35 degrees, so that when the tree falls, it presents to view a conical 

 end, which part is quite worthless, and never reckoned in measure by a 

 buyer ; yet on a tree nine feet diameter, chopped nine inches above 

 the ground level, and reckoned as a cone of that depth, the loss 

 would be nearly sixteen solid feet of good timber to the owner ; 

 this at only 2s, per foot is £1 12s. wasted. Now for the harm done 

 to the stub if left in the ground for future growth of timber. The 

 liber of the bark edges of the alburnum or sapwood have been hacked, 

 and to some extent shattered by the blows of the axe ; the finer fibres 

 of the roots or sponglets have been ruptured, checking growth for a 

 time ; a wooden basin has been made, into which the wlieels of the 

 " gig, '' or timber carriage, jump in and out, breaking the coronet of 

 bark round the hole, which should be protected for germinating 

 future growth. A fiat table-top, sawn stub, is firm and smooth for 

 men, horses, wheeled vehicles passing over, or sliding other timber 

 over for years. 



In my first essay I mentioned electricity as a motor for forest 

 tools. I can only now briefly allude to the wonderful invention 

 of Heinrich Stapfer, of London, by which the most delicate opera- 

 tions of surgical dentistry are painlessly performed, as well as the 

 felling of trees, under-cutting coal-seams, or quarrying stone, at very 

 little cost. Its speciality in forest work will doubtless be in trimming 

 and pruning large trees from the ground, without having to climb the 

 tree to use the saw or axe : always a risky and unsatisfactory job for 

 both woodward and overlooker. 



