THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 61 



64. In splitting timber for anything, it is best to set the 

 wedges always at the smallest or top end of a log, should there 

 be any difference in the ends. If there are no large checks across 

 the end of a log, take the axe in one hand, and the beetle in the 

 other, and make a crack entirely across the end of the log, so as 

 to split it into two equal parts. If there is a large crack a part 

 of the way across the end, drive in the axe a little with the beetle, 

 so as to make a crack entirely across the end. Generally speak 

 ing, timber splits the best and wastes the least, by setting the 

 wedges in an Old crack or seam. But sometimes a log will sepa 

 rate much the easiest directly across the old check. Now, set two 

 iron wedges in the end of the log, and drive them both together, 

 and when the end is opened sufficiently, drive in gluts; if the 

 wedges have been set in the middle of the end, the log will sepa 

 rate usually in the middle. Should it vary a little from following 

 the middle of the log, it is better to let it go where it will than to 

 undertake to open it at the other end, so as to meet the operation, 

 which is attended with doubt and difficulty. Sometimes it is 

 almost impossible to split a log through the heart. This is the 

 case many times with black ash, and elm, and buttonwood. Logs 

 many times have a seam entirely around the heart. "When this 

 is the case, it will require a vast deal of unnecessary pounding to 

 split it through the heart. Such logs can be worked up far more 

 easily and economically by slabbing them, following the old seams ; 

 and many times when a log has a very tough heart, even if there 

 be no checks nor seams, it is best to split them by slabbing off 

 about one-third of the log at once ; this will leave, in a log thirty 

 inches in diameter, a heart piece about ten inches square. If, 

 now, the timber be very tough and stringy, this may be worked 

 up by slabbing it. In splitting ordinary timber, the builder must 

 keep in mind that a round stick or a square stick cannot, very 

 well, be split into three equal parts; because, if we attempt to 

 split off one-third of it at a time, the smaller part is very apt to 

 run out before the split reaches the other end. Therefore, if a 

 square stick be about large enough for three rails, it is best to 

 split it through the centre, and then split the two halves of it in 



