52 History of the English Landed Interest. 



process they become weaker than at other times of the year ; 

 the sap of the felled tree remaining in its pores and putrefying. 

 This breeds the worm, and leaves the timber full of cavities, 

 subjecting it to rifts, gapes, and shrinkage. He agrees with 

 Evelyn, who said, " If you fell not oaks till the sap is in repose, 

 as 'tis commonly about November and December, after the 

 frost has well nipt them, the very saplings, thus cut, will con- 

 tinue without decay as long as the heart of the tree." The 

 Staffordshire practice was therefore preferable, because when 

 a tree was merely barked in the spring and left standing 

 naked all the summer, it became, by being exposed to the sun 

 and wind, hardened ; the sappy part in a manner growing as 

 firm and durable as the heart itself.^ 



Unfortunately, as Plot points out, the law- forbade the 

 felling of oak at any other time than between the first of April 

 and last day of June, when the sap is up and bark will run ; 

 for the reason, he surmises, that were the felling of timber 

 permissible in any other season, the tanners might have lacked 

 their necessary supply of bark. The practice, however, of the 

 Staffordshire foresters fully complied with the intention of the 

 Act, and at the same time insured the utmost durability of 

 the timber. If any legislation on the subject were required, 

 it would seem, according to this writer, as though an Act in 

 a contrary direction had been needed. It was far more 

 troublesome for the forester to fell the hardened wood in 

 winter, and it shortened the period in early spring required 

 by him for replanting the land. But Plot beseeches his 

 Majesty to exclude from the national ship-yard all timber 

 grown in shady and crowded districts, and to rely on such as 

 could be found in exposed situations, such as chases, open 

 fields, and hedgerows, where it would be advantageous to the 

 farmer for the timber to be felled and removed before the 

 spring cultivation commenced. 



This was a period of English History when the river Arun 

 would be gorged with native-grown timber on its way to the 

 Thames, for the Woolwich and Deptford ship-yards of the king, 



^ Gentleman'' s Magazine, April, 1778. 

 « 5 Eliz. c. 8, and 1 Jac. I. c. 22. 



