Book II. VALUING PLANTATIONS. 59.5 



three feet in length, the pits or stacks are usually formed in this manner: A spot, 

 adapted to the purpose, of from about fifteen or twenty feet in diameter, of a conical 

 form, is selected, and after being properly levelled, a large billet of wood split 

 across at one end, and pointed at the other, is fixed in the centre of the area, with 

 its pointed extremity in the earth, and two pieces of wood, inserted through the clefts of 

 the other end, forming four right angles ; against these cross-pieces, four other billets of 

 wood are placed, one end on the ground, and the other leaning against the angles. A 

 number of large and straight billets are afterwards laid on the ground, to form a floor, 

 each being, as it were, the radius of the circular area ; on this floor, a proper quantity of 

 brush or small wood is strewed, to fill up the interstices, when the floor will be complete: 

 and in order to keep the billets in the same position in which they were first arranged, 

 pegs or stumps are driven into the ground, in the circumference of the circle, about a 

 foot distant from one another ; upon this floor a stage is built, with billets set upon one 

 end, somewhat inclining towards the central billet, and on the tops of these another floor 

 is laid, in a horizontal direction, but of shorter billets, as the whole is intended, when 

 finished, to form a cone. The whole is then coated over with turf, and the surface ge- 

 nerally plastered with a mixture of earth and charcoal -dust. 



3761. Previous to the operation of setting Jire to the pile, the central billet in the upper 

 stage is drawn out, and pieces of dry combustible wood substituted in its place, to which 

 the fire is applied. Great attention is necessary during the process, in the proper manage- 

 ment of the fire, and in immediately covering up the apertures through which the flame 

 obtrudes itself, until the operation be concluded, which is generally effected in the space 

 of two or three days according to circumstances. When the charcoal is thought to be 

 suflSciently burnt, which is easily known from the appearance of the smoke, and the flames 

 no longer issuing with impetuosity through the vents ; all the apertures are to be closed 

 up very carefully, with a mixture of earth and charcoal-dust, which, by excluding all 

 access of the external air, prevents the coal from beihg any further consumed, and the 

 fire goes out of itself. In this condition it is suffered to remain, till the whole is suflS- 

 ciently cooled ; when the cover is removed, and the charcoal is taken away. If the 

 whole process is skilfully managed, the coals will exactly retain the figure of the pieces 

 of wood : some are said to have been so dexterous, as to char an arrow, without altering 

 even the figure of the feather. {Encyc. Brit. vol. v. art. Charcoal.) 



3762. The method of charring wood, for the making of gunpowder, according to an 

 improved system, adopted not many years ago, is however a much more costly operation, 

 though the expense attending it is amply compensated by the superior excellence of the 

 article when manufactured. It is done in iron cylinders, and in so complete a man- 

 ner, that every particle of the wood is charred. The oily or tarry matter is also pre- 

 served, and may, so far as the quantity goes, be made use of instead of foreign tar or 

 pitch. This mode of charring wood for making gunpowder, is carried to the greatest 

 perfection, near Petworth in Sussex, and there is a manufacture of a similar nature near 

 Chester. [Gen. Rep. for Scotland, vol. ii. p. 342.) 



Sect. IX. Of estimating the Value of Plantations and their Products, and of exposing 



them to Sale. 



3763. The valuation of timber for jns a distinct profession, and can only be acquired by 

 continued observation and experience : like other valuations of property, it depends on 

 a great variety of considerations, some of a general, but the greater part of a local 

 nature. We have already offered some remarks on valuing young plantations, as a 

 part of what may be called the inherent value of landed estates (3089.) ; and shall here 

 confine ourselves to the valuation of saleable trees. 



3764. In valuing saleable trees of any kind, their number per acre, or their total number 

 by enumeration, being ascertained, and the kinds and sizes classed, then each class is to 

 be estimated according to its worth as timber, fence-wood, fuel, bark, &c. ** In a cop- 

 pice wood which cannot readily be measured, the readiest method of counting the stools 

 is, to cause two men to take a line, say about a hundred feet long, or more, and passing 

 the line round as many of the stools as it will enclose, the one man standing, while the 

 other moves round a new number of stools, and count always the stools betwixt the 

 two lines, causing the one man to move, the one with the line, while the other stands 

 still, and so on alternately. The valuator at the same time taking care to average every 

 twenty stools as they go on, before losing sight of the counted stools. This way, too, is 

 a very speedy and sure method of counting the number of trees in any plantation. 



3765. Or the stools of a coppice wood may be counted and averaged hy two men going 

 parallel to each other, and the person valuing going betwixt them ; the two men putting 

 up marks with moss, or pieces of white paper, on a branch of the stools ; the one man 

 always going back by the last laid marks, and the valuator always counting and averaging 

 the stools betwixt the newly laid and the late made marks ; counting and averaging the 

 stools always as the men go on, taking only twenty, or even ten stools at a time. To 



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