178 On the Dry Rot. 
abutments to bridges, pumps, piles, foundations of wharves, coffer- 
dams, é&c., a full notice of which would fill a volume, all go to 
show that there is a season in which to cut timber that will cause 
it to last for years beyond what it now lasts; and that there is 
a season in which to cut it, when it will not last over eight 
years, notwithstanding any artificial process through which the 
timber may pass. 
Immersion in water was one process, that was thought good to 
make timber more durable, and which was practiced by the Brit- 
ish government for a great number of years, and followed by that 
of the United States, until it was exploded; and according to the 
English writers on the subject, the life of their oaks averaged only 
about nine years, and that of our own favorite live oaks about the 
same period. Salt is one of those substances that in the popular 
opinion is good to make timber more durable, and hence the room 
tween the timbers of every new vessel built by the govern- 
ment, is filled with it. But notwithstanding this, they have to 
repairs in their hulls in about eight or nine years. Soit 
has been with every artificial process, and so it will be until na- 
anak herdictates more Someta: 
_ Nature no doubt. was the pre ts, and particu- 
hale the Romans, who, it is oan gee Well Saeed Let them 
stand until they were seasoned. Is not this more in accordance 
with the dictates of nature, than to place timber under water, and 
let it lie there for eight or ten years, to have its tubular fibres 
swollen and distended to such a degree as to destroy its elasticity 
and its firmness, and thereby prepare it for a more rapid decay? 
And what was gained by that practice? Truly nothing ; ; for, es 
or ten years was its life, before immersion, and it is no more than 
eight or ten years, sites its immersion ; and in what consists the 
value of salt, which only cools the esis surface, and therefore 
keeps it sound, but within, the disease is raging with redoubled 
violence. The only question is, when did the ancients girdle 
their trees? Was it in the winter? If any other proof is want- 
ing, to show that they did not do it at that season, it may be 
found in the practice of the pioneers of our western hard wood 
forests : there, as I have been informed, they used to girdle their 
trees in the rine for the very purpose of having them ret * 
fall down, and thereby save the necessity of cutting them. — 
think therefore, that we may fairly conclude ite Rome 
