OF ARBORICULTURE IN YORKSHIRE. 141 



or to take the place of trees to be felled. In some cases the under- 

 wood is sold, standing, by auction, the purchaser doing all the 

 labour. I do not, however, approve of this method. 



Catting Down and Disposing of Timber. — Felling is generally 

 done by contract by timber merchants' men, or when it is cut down 

 previous to sale by the proprietors' own men. Contracts are objec- 

 tionable in this work, as the men are less careful in preserving 

 standard trees ; but where it is difficult to obtain competent men for 

 estate work, it is the only way of solving the labour difficulty. 

 The methods of disposing of timber may be classed under two 

 heads, viz., selling it standing, and cutting it down previous to its 

 being sold. The first method is much more common throughout 

 the county, and sales of two or three thousand pounds value are 

 effected in this way. There are many objections to this method, 

 but I merely give the system of management practised in the county. 

 Cutting down timber previous to sale is becoming more common 

 year by year, and were proprietors or their managers giving the 

 subject the attention it deserves, it would soon be general. There 

 are various methods adopted for arranging a sale of timber, but 

 selling by auction is the most common. When the timber is felled, 

 sometimes the number of feet, in other cases no particulars, are 

 given, and it is generally more satisfactory to alloAv purchasers to 

 satisfy themselves on different points. As I have before stated, 

 much of the timber grown is oak, and it would strike a traveller 

 through the county in summer to see a number of trees standing 

 minus the bark and branches. The practice is to strip the trees of 

 their bark, and let them remain a month or two before being felled, 

 to prevent their splitting from the heat of the sun. When there 

 are no branches for the men to stand on when taking the bark off, 

 iron spikes are driven into the tree for that purpose, and those who 

 are used to it can get the bark off very quickly, but I have not 

 found the price obtained repay the extra labour. Trees of large 

 dimensions are certainly much benefited by the operation, and when 

 required for estate use it well repays the extra expense incurred. 

 This work is invariably done by contract, the price paid at the pre- 

 sent time being from L. 1, 15s. to L.2 per ton, and the price paid 

 for cutting down is from 6s. to 10s. per hundred feet. 



On Measuring Timber. — In many districts of the country, when 

 trees are felled, the trunk or bole is sawn through where it becomes 

 knotty, but the general custom in Yorkshire is different, the tree 

 being dressed out as far as it will girth six inches on the side. 



