■ Bark and Bark-stripping. 827 



diameter, which shoukl always be doue, as the hark of the smaller 

 branches contains in proportion to weight more tanning matter than 

 that of the stem. In ordinary cases, where the trees are of medium 

 age, and average about 10 feet each, it will be safe to estimate a ton of 

 well-dried bark for every 150 feet of measurable timber. Hedgerow 

 trees have, under favourable circumstances, been known to yield as 

 much as a ton of bark to three tons of timber. Plantation timber 

 must be estimated according to the spaces afforded: where grown 

 thickly the bark will be thin and light, while where sufficient space 

 is afforded the yield may be estimated at one ton of bark for every four 

 or four and a half tons of timber. Oak poles averaging one cubic foot 

 each will not produce more than a ton of bark for every five tons of 

 timber. 



Having ascertained pretty nearly the total quantity of bark to be 

 strijpped during the season, the forester's next care will be to arrange 

 for a sufficient number of hands to ensure its completion within the 

 available time. The strength of the party must depend considerably 

 upon the sizes of the timber, and also upon the circumstance of its 

 lying well together or being widely scattered. As a general rule, the 

 larger the timber the fewer the number of hands required; on the 

 other hand, when small coppice shoots have to be felled, carried out, 

 stripped, and the bark collected for stacking, a strong party will be 

 necessary. 



Where women and boys are employed in the operation, there must 

 be special provision made for them in the way of pruning branches 

 and carrying them out for stripping. Here, where men and strong 

 lads only are engaged, and where the timber is generally of medium 

 size, we find that six or seven men, with two or three strong boys, 

 will cut down, strip, and stack a ton of bark per day in a favourable 

 season. Last year one party of ten men turned out twenty-three tons 

 of bark in nineteen days, and the season was a very unfavourable one, 

 many of the plantations having to be gone through a third time before 

 all the trees would run. 



As the regularity of procedure throughout the season will depend so 

 much upon previous arrangements, the forester should finish marking 

 before the stripping season commences ; and it may be well to remark 

 here that all thinnings should be gradual, as too sudden an exposure 

 frequently checks, if it does not altogether stop, the growth of trees. 

 As a rule, sister oaks upon the same stool should never be separated, 

 nor hedgerow trees which have grow^n close together. For exposed 

 situations the system of group falling is strongly recommended, so that 

 each quarter may retain its natural boundary where the branches hang 

 low and exclude the cold and destructive winds. 



During the strijiping season the flow of the sap will be very much 



