Bark and Bark-stripping. §29 



Where boys are employed in stripping close supervision will be 

 necessary, or the smaller branches will be thrown aside. We have 

 observed throughout a large fall sufficient bark thus left behind to 

 have paid the entire cost of the stripping. 



The places selected for drying should be open and airy, and as near 

 clearance roads as possible. In a favourable season bark may be 

 expeditiously dried by being arranged with one end upon the ground 

 and the other resting against a rod, which in its turn is supported by 

 forked sticks driven into the ground. But as a precaution against 

 injury from wet it is better stacked upon a raised stage formed of 

 forked sticks about two and a half feet long, driven firmly into the 

 ground, while stout rods are placed transversely and smaller sticks 

 longitudinally upon these, so as to form a tolerably close platform, 

 upon which the smaller pieces of bark are built up loosely, and 

 finally thatched or covered in with the bark from the trunk, so as to 

 throw off all rain, and at the same time admit a free current of air 

 around and beneath the stack. 



With an average season and careful stacking no turning will be 

 necessary, but should unfavourable weather cause it to remain longer 

 than twelve or fourteen days in the stack, it will be desirable to choose 

 a fine day, and open and rearrange the bark to prevent mouldiness. 

 Its fitness for delivery may be tested by its brittleness, and by its 

 breaking rather than bend under pressure. 



In districts where the bark season is generally a hazardous one 

 drying sheds of some kind should be prepared. A light w^oodeu 

 framework capable of being quickly set up, or taken down, to carry 

 sheets of corrugated galvanized iron, will be about the cheapest form 

 we can suggest. The corrugations give rigidity to the iron, so that 

 very little support is needed. At the present time we have a 

 considerable quantity in use for various purposes, which was bought, 

 soiled, for £15 per ton, delivered, Birmingham gauge No. 24, weighing 

 about one pound per square foot, and costing, therefore, somewhat less 

 than Ifd. per foot. 



As in this district the bark is delivered entire as taken from the 

 trees, it is generally tied up in bundles of convenient size for loading 

 and unloading, with withes, at a cost of from Is. 6d. to 2s. per ton. 

 The delivery on rail averages about 3s. per ton to the nearest station. 

 It was formerly chopped into small pieces at a cost of Gs. or 7s. per 

 ton, and delivered in bags. It may be observed that well-dried bark 

 loses about one-third of its weight in harvesting. 



The cost of stripping, &c., should be proportioned to the sizes of 

 the timber. Taking the season through, we have paid 32s. per ton of 

 20 cwt. 



As soon as the "flawing" is finished the oak tops are cut up and 



