Book II. PRODUCTS OF TREES. 593 



the natural sap ought to be dried out of it, in order to prevent its fermenting ; because 

 if a fermentation takes place in one part of the stack, it generally goes through and 

 spoils the whole. The same mode of treatment will do for all kinds of bark as well as 

 the oak ; but the birch has an outer or shredy skin upon it, that is rejected by the 

 tanner, and, as already observed, must be peeled off. 



3750. Chopping the bark. " When the bark is ready for the tanner, it has to undergo 

 the work of chopping, which is done by driving in two or more stakes into the ground, 

 with a fork on the upper end of each, leaving them about two feet six inches from the 

 ground, and laying a long small piece of wood across between the two, where a number 

 of people stand, and the bark is carried and laid down behind them, which they take up 

 in their hands and lay on the cross tree, and then, with a sharp whittle or bill in the 

 other hand, they cut it into small pieces, about three inches in length; when this is done, 

 it is trampled into bags, which hold about two hundred weight each, and in these bags it 

 is weighed when sold by the ton, in tons, hundred weights, quarters, and pounds, and in 

 the above manner delivered to the merchant or tanner." (Forester's Guide, 199.) 



3751. Po//ar(/-^ree5, which may be considered in most cases as injurious deformities, 

 are lopped at stated periods like copse-woods/ and the lop, whether to be barked or 

 otherwise, is to be treated in all respects like that of copse. 



3752. The period at which trees are Jelled, for the sake of their timber, is determined 

 by various causes. By maturity of growth, or where the annual increase is so trifling as 

 to render their standing no longer worth while in point of profit : when wanted for pri- 

 vate use or sale ; or when defects in the tree, or new arrangements in its situation, point 

 out the necessity of its removal. " A timbered estate," Marshal observes, " should 

 frequently be gone over by some person of judgment; who, let the price and demand for 

 timber be what they xnay, ought to mark every tree which wears the appearance of 

 decay. If the demand be brisk and the price high, he ought to go two steps farther, 

 and mark not only such as are full-grown, but such also as are near perfection." In 

 trees, as in the human species, there are three stages, youth, manhood, and old age. In 

 the period of youth, the growth is rapid; in manhood, that growth is matured; and in 

 old age, it begins to decay. 



3753. The most projitable season for felling timber is at what may thus be termed the 

 beginning of manhood. After that time, though the tree may appear sound and 

 healthy, its annual increase is so little, that it would be more profitable to cut it down 

 and replant. The number of years that a tree may stand, before it arrives at this period, 

 must vary in different soils and situations; but the period itself may easily be ascertained 

 by the annual shoots the state of the bark -and by taking the circumference of 

 the tree at the same place for two or three successive seasons, and comparing the differ- 

 ence. In the view of profiting from timber produce, it is of great consequence to cut 

 down plantations at maturity. Many trees will stand half, others a whole century, after 

 they are full-grown, appear quite healthy, and at the same time, make little or no in- 

 crease of timber. But there are particular cases, arising from the nature and state of 

 the markets, where it mdy even be more profitable to cut timber before it is arrived at a 

 full growth. [Treat, on Countr. Res. ii. 577.) 



3754. Preparations for felling. It has been strongly recommended to disbark trees a 

 year or more before they are taken down in consequence of the result of certain experi- 

 ments commenced by Buffbn in 1737. In May of that year, he disbarked three 

 oak-trees, forty feet in height, where they stood. In the course of three years they died, 

 and, on cutting them down, the outer wood was found hard and dry, and the internal 

 wood moist and softer. After trying its strength, &c. he concludes, that " timber which 

 has been disbarked and dried while standing, will weigh heavier, and prove stronger than 

 timber cut in its bark." Bosc, and other French authors, (in Cours Compl. d'Jgr. &c. 

 art. Aubier, Bois, Quercus, &c.) strongly recommend this practice, which is followed in 

 some places on the continent, and in this country with the oak and larch ; but not, as far 

 as we have learned, with any other tree. Monteith finds it by far the most eflicient way 

 of seasoning larch-timber. He barked some trees in spring, and did not cut them 

 down till autumn, and others stood in the peeled state for two years. After various and 

 extensive trials, he is *' decidedly of opinion, that the larch treated in this way at thirty 

 years of age will be found equally durable with a tree cut down at the age of fifty years, 

 and treated in the ordinary way." (Forester s Guide, 152.) 



3755. As the dry rot (Merulius destruens, Sow.) is found to arise in a great measure 

 from want of seasoning, or at least to proceed with the greatest rapidity in timber 

 not well seasoned, this practice seems to deserve adoption in that point of view. (Encyc, 

 Bnt. Suppl. art. Dry Eat, ) In some parts of the north of Europe, the trees are divested 

 of their bark for one or two feet in height from the ground a year or more previous to 

 that on which they are to be felled. We saw this done in Poland and Lithuania ; but 

 though we made diligent enquiry there and in Sweden, we could not learn distinctly the 

 extent to which it was practised in the latter country and Norway. It is occasionally 



