No. 3. 



Jlrtijicial Divisions of the Farm. 



75 



cuttings, yielding tliirty thousand posts and 

 rails, are ready ibr a market, uhicli would 

 be readily tbund, and which at the low rate of 

 five dollars a hundred, would give tlie owner 

 of the farm an average gain of twenty dollars, 

 for each and every year the acre of land was 

 tlius appropriated — in addition to furnishing 

 all necessary fencing for the farm. This, 

 dating from the commencem.ent, is a hand- 

 some profit. 



Cedar post and rail fence. — James Gar- 

 NETT, Esq., a name familiar to the reading 

 farmer, says : " I can affirm, from my own 

 experience, that a cedar post and rail fence, 

 without any ditch, the materials for which, 

 grow spontaneously over a large portion of 

 Virginia, and will grow by planting almost 

 any where in the United States, will last, 

 without the slightest repair, from thirteen to 

 fourteen years ; and may be made to last six 

 or eight years longer, by a few occasional 

 supplies of rails and posts. I also know from 

 my own experience, that either cedar, chest- 

 nut, or locust, the last of which is more dura- 

 ble than either, will in fourteen years grow 

 sufficiently large to make the fence anew, 

 if planted by the side of it one or two to each 

 pannel." — Mr. GarnetCs Address before the 

 Fredericksburg, Va., Agricultural Society. 



A great diversity of opinion has prevailed 

 among many persons, as to the best time for 

 cutting timber, so as to insure its greatest du- 

 rability. Some recommend the summer sea- 

 son, some the fall, others the winter when the 

 sap has generally descended ; while others 

 again who have entered into a careful investi- 

 gation of the subject, have come to tlie con- 

 clusion that the most suitable period for fell- 

 ing timber, is in the spring while the sap 

 flows freely. This will no doubt be consid- 

 ered as rank heresy by many of those who 

 cannot regard with complacency, what they 

 deem innovations on the old and favorite sys- 

 tems. But this opinion is gaining ground ; 

 from the simple circumstance that it is well 

 sustained by incontrovertible facts. 



An old and observing friend, Capt. Cooper, 

 of the Navy, furnished for publication some 

 time since in an agricultural work, a variety 

 of facts, touching this important matter ; from 

 which it clearly appears, that spring, that is, 

 while the sap is flowing freely, is the best time 

 for cutting timber.* The late Joseph Cooper, 



* Farnirrs' Cabinet, vol. iii. p. 29. — One fact we give. 



"J. C. (Joseph Cooper, Esq.) iiiforined me that a de- 

 tachment of British troops crossed from Philadelphia 

 on the 1st day of May, in 1777, and on the 2d com- 

 menced cutting down his woods for the supply of the 

 army, and at tlie same time to hum np his fencinfj, 

 which they completely accomplished. " But," said he, 

 " they taught me the proper time to cut timber to make 

 it last. After they marched of}", I found many trees 

 that were not cut into cord wood ; thoae I split into 

 rails, believing at the same time they would soon de- 

 cay, from theif being cut in thespring— but I have been 



Esq., warmly advocated this system. In the 

 same paper, page 4, is a communication re- 

 commending the month of August, within 

 one day of the time when the moon is flill, 

 as the best period for cutting all kinds of oaA:. 

 But it is urged, in ordej; to guard it from de- 

 cay, to immerse the wood, immediately after 

 it is cut and split to the dimensions required, 

 in lime and water, in which it is to remain a 

 year, affording time for the particles of lime 

 to penetrate the pores of the wood. This 

 lime water is to be frequently agitated. This 

 process requires a vat, which may be simk in 

 the ground at little expense. The water and 

 lime should be of the consistence of white 

 wash. If the durability of the timber is pro- 

 moted by this process, it is evidently owing to 

 the antiseptic quality of the lime-water, with 

 which it is saturated, and not. to the mere 

 circumstance of cutting the timber in the 

 month of August. 



The editor of the Genesee Farmer, and 

 a host of his correspondents recommend cut- 

 ting timber in the winter, as its durability de- 

 pends upon its being cut when free from sap. 

 Joshua Howard says, that from twenty years 

 experience in the preservation of timber, the 

 best time to cut it to insure durability, is when 

 the tree is in its greatest vigor — which, in the 

 latitude of his residence, Dearbornsville, N. 

 Y., is about the middle of June. He cites a 

 case in which a man was convinced against 

 his will. A farmer in North Carolina wish- 

 ing to fence a certain lot, went to work ac- 

 cording to the old theory, and cut his rail tim- 

 ber during the full of the moon in February. 

 When he came in May to put up his fence he 

 was deficient about forty pannels — he went 

 into the woods, cut the requisite quantity, and 

 put it up as the only alternative. Ten or 

 twelve years afterward on examining his 

 fence, he was exceedingly surprised to find 

 that the rails cut and split in May were infi- 

 nitely more sound than those cut and pre- 

 pared in February. There are thousands of 

 similar cases. 



A great variety of plans have been proposed 

 for the preservation of timber. The late 

 Samuel Preston, of Stockport, Pa., was sat- 

 isfied from experience, that posts set with the 

 top part in the ground will last from three to 

 four times as long as when they are set with 

 the butt-end down. Daniel Longstreth 

 says, that penstocks and other timbers exposed 

 to wet or dampness near the water wheel, are 

 placed by many mill-wrights with the top 

 end downwards, as they are found to be more 

 durable than when placed in a different posi- 

 tion. Charring posts has been strongly re- 

 commended and extensively practised, with- 



agreeably disappointed, — most of thorn are as sound 

 now as when made into fence." This he related five- 

 and-tvventy or thirty years after the peace of "83, 



