382 FARMER'S ASSISTANT. 



ed, that he cannot adopt a better plan than th x at recommend- 

 ed under SOILING Sec. or something similar. 



The expense of any kind of tillage never should be re- 

 garded, where clear profits proportionately great may be 

 safely calculated on, as a general result. Thus, if it cost 

 fifty dollars to till and gather an acre of carrots, and that 

 acre, upon a yearly average, will give five hundred bush- 

 els, the crop, at eighteen cents a bushel, which is certainly 

 not too high, gives thirty five dollars per acre, as the clear 

 profit, after taking out five dollars an acre for the use of the 

 land; a profit much greater than can be commonly realised 

 by raising any kind of grain. Neither should the expense 

 of tillage be regarded where the clear profits will be great, 

 though not to be realized in some years, if it may be calcu- 

 lated that such profits may certainly be expected. 



TIMBER. The right time for felling trees for timber is 

 in December and January, when the sap is down, as in this 

 case it is less liable to be eaten with worms, and will last 

 much longer. 



By experiments of M. J5ujfon } it is found that trees which 

 are striped of their bark in May or June, while standing, 

 and then cut down the next Winter for timber, are found 

 to make the most solid, heavy, and strong timber, and that 

 even the sap is then good. The bark of oak, and some 

 other trees, may, at that time, be striped off to advantage 

 for the use of tuning. 



Soaking timber in salt-water is very good to increase its 

 strength and durability. 



In order to preserve timber from cracking, while season- 

 ing, let it be blocked out for the purposes wanted, and 

 laid in a hay-mow when the hay is carted in. When the 

 hay is dealt out the next Winter, the pieces may be taken 

 out well seasoned, and free from cracks This is an excel- 

 ent plan for seasoning all kinds of timber for carriages, &c. 

 When this is to be done, if the trees be felled in Winter, 

 let them lie in logs until haytime arrives. 



The right time for cuting down trees for timber is, when 

 they are in their prime ; as the wood will then have arrived 

 to its greatest perfection, for hardness and durability. 



In addition to the foregoing, we are assured, irom an ex- 

 perienced Builder of some of the firstrate bridges in the 

 northern part of this Country, that such timber as is to be 

 exposed to the water, or to frequent wetness, should be 

 felled during the increase of the moon ; and that such, as is 

 intended to be kept dry, should be felled during the decrease 

 of that planet. We find it also ascertained, by satisfactory 

 experiments, as published in * the Memoirs of the Philadel- 

 phia Society for the Promotion of Agriculture,' that timber, 



