1/ THE NEW FORESTRY. 



CHAPTER XV. 

 THE BARK CROP. 



SECTION I. STRIPPING AND DRYING. 



THE bark crop is not now of nearly so much importance as 

 it once was. Larch bark has practically gone out of demand, 

 and oak bark, though still extensively used for tanning pur- 

 poses, is hardly worth the harvesting for its own value. 

 Peeled oak timber, however, fetches a better price than that 

 which is not peeled, and the removal of the bark reduces 

 weight and the cost of haulage very considerably. For these 

 reasons alone purchasers still strip the bark, going even to the 

 expense, in some parts of Yorkshire, of stripping the trees 

 standing at a cost of thirty-five shillings per ton. The causes 

 of the decline in the value of oak bark are that substitutes for 

 tanning purposes are now in more common use, if not by them- 

 selves, in conjunction with oak bark to accelerate the process 

 and reduce the cost, and that much good bark is sent over 

 to this country from the Continent. 



The barking season depends upon the ascent of the sap, 

 which, in its turn, depends on the weather, or rather the tem- 

 perature. The bark cannot be detached before the sap is 

 fully on the move, nor after the leaves have expanded, and 

 attention is therefore needed to catch the crop at the right 

 time. Whether owing to the sudden thickening of the sap, 

 or some other cause, the work of stripping may be completely 

 arrested by a sudden change from mild to cold weather, and 

 quite frequently in peeling standing trees one side of a tree 

 will peel when the other side will not. Neither do all the trees 

 in a lot come on at the same time, hence, when a lot is felled 

 straight off and peeled down, the mallet has to be used oftener 

 than is desirable to loosen the bark, which is best got without 

 such assistance. Stripping the bark from the trees standing 

 is probably the best way to get most bark and preserve the 

 timber, but the rule is to fell and strip afterwards. The trees 

 may be tried with the chisel while standing, and such as are 

 found to be ready should be felled and stripped forthwith, 

 and so on till the lot is finished. It is of much importance to 

 get the bark off quickly, dried, and away, or stacked in the 

 wood until it can be removed. In drying the bark it should 



