282 THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 



blows would have but little effect if the end were not cut off 

 square. He who would be a good chopper must learn to strike 

 straight, and not strike too quick, lest his strength fail, nor too slow, 

 lest suitable progress be not made, and he must learn to shape 

 his kerfs like B in the figure. 



FELLING TREES WITH AN AXE. 



" Loud sounds the axe, redoubling strokes on strokes ; 

 On all sides round the forest hurls her oaks 

 Headlong. Deep-echoing groan the thickets brown ; 

 Then rustling, crackling, crashing, thunder down." 



381. The first and most important consideration, when we 

 have concluded to fell a tree, is, to decide which way it will fall 

 most advantageously. When a tree stands perpendicularly, it 

 may be felled just which way we choose. If, for instance, we 

 wish to fell a tree to the north, let the north side be cut a little 

 more than half off, and three or four inches lower than the south 

 side, and it will surely fall towards the north, unless the wind is 

 contrary. A tree that stands perpendicularly will always fall in 

 the direction which the chips fly when it is being cut down. A 

 tree will fall usually on that side of the stump which is cut the 

 lowest. "When a tree is large and valuable for timber, if a chop 

 per does not understand felling trees, he is very liable oftentimes 

 to damage a tree very much, and for some purposes spoil it en 

 tirely. Large trees, especially very tough timber, are very apt 

 to split, shiver and check at the butt when falling, if they are not 

 cut correctly. 



382. We have often seen valuable trees split at the butt six 

 or eight feet when falling ; and sometimes splinters six or eight 

 feet long are drawn out of the butt of the tree, and stand erect 

 on the stump, damaging a tree very much. 



383. A tree for timber should be cut as low as possible, as one 

 foot in length of the butt of a tree is worth, in many instances, 

 four times the cost of cutting down the tree ; and each side should 

 be cut square across, and not diagonally, with one side slanting 

 onc> way, and the other side in an opposite direction. It is just 



