124 HEDGE-ROW TIMBER. 



parts where strength is most wanted, and which, 

 if sound, would render the timber so much the 

 more valuable. It is on the outsides of bends or 

 kneeS) that blemishes are so frequently found, and 

 which are often so considerable, as to reduce the 

 value of a valuable crook to almost nothing. 



These defects in timber are sometimes so far 

 within the body of the tree, as to elude the scrutiny 

 of the keenest eye, proving, in some very old trees, 

 that pruning is not an evil of modem date. In a 

 still greater proportion, as to the whole quantity, 

 however, the eye of Ship-builders, or Timber 

 Merchants all of whom have frequently been 

 bitten will detect, from external appearances, the 

 snag-pruning^ covered over both with wood and 

 bark; and consequently, they protect themselves 

 as well as they can in their purchases, against the 

 contingency of unsound timber, by shaping their 

 offers accordingly. This, of course, affects the 

 seller in no inconsiderable degree, and is one other 

 reason why he should put a stop to the practice of 

 pruning altogether, except when it could be done 

 under the eye of his own Wood Manager. 



