CHAPTER III. 

 TREES AND TIMBER AS PROPERTY 



23. The Use of the Terms Tree, Timber, Wood, 

 Forest and Woods. The Century Dictionary defines a 

 "tree" as "a perennial plant which grows from the ground 

 with a single permanent woody self-supporting trunk or 

 stem, ordinarily to a height of at least 25 or 30 feet." Per- 

 ennial plants with woody structure which do not have a 

 single well-developed trunk but several main stems or bran- 

 ches starting near the ground and which do not normally 

 reach a height of over 25 feet are called shrubs. The word 

 "wood," from which the adjective used above is derived, 

 is the name commonly applied to the hard fibrous substance 

 that composes the main portion of the trunk and branches 

 of a tree or shrub. 1 The word "timber" is generally used 

 in its original sense as designating standing trees that are 

 suitable for building houses and ships or for other construc- 

 tion purposes, or the portions of severed trees that are 

 adapted to such uses or that have been actually hewn or 

 sawn into coarse constructional material. - 



In early English law the word "forest" was applied 

 exclusively to a tract of land composed entirely of a wooded 

 area or of both woods and pastures that was kept as a refuge 

 or breeding place for wild beasts and fowls, and within 

 which the sovereign or other political dignitary enjoyed 

 exclusive privileges for recreation and hunting. Such 

 tracts often bore distinctive names, were governed by 

 special laws and were supported at public expense. In 



1. See Clay v. Postal Tel., Cable Co.. 70 Miss.[406, 411; 10 So. 658, which defined a 



tree as a woody plant whose branches spring from and are supported upon a 

 trunk or body. ]| 



Patterson v. McCausland, 3 Bland (Md.) 69, (Dec. 1830) which discusses wood 

 structure at length and strangely reaches the conclusion that the successive 

 rings of growth are not evidence of the age of a tree. 



2. Leigh v. Heald, 1 B. & Ad. 622, 625. 20 E. C. L. 624. But see Strout v. Harper, 



72 Me. 270, 273; Duren v. Gage, 72 Me. 118; Darling v. Clement, 69 Vt. 292, 

 37 Atl. 779; Hutchinson v. Ford, 62 Vt. 97, 18 Atl. 1044, Swift v. David 16 

 B. C. 275. 







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