WOOD FOR FOWLING-PUNTS. 459 



pieces, or carry coals across a river, as I saw a punt 

 used for at Southampton the other day. 



To make a punt up to more weight, always add 

 length to her in preference to breadth. Breadth 

 will make her slower and less sea-kind ; length will 

 make no difference as to size in her appearance to 

 fowl, and she will be easier managed by her crew 

 than if of wider beam. 



Wood for floor of all ordinary duck-punts, yellow 

 pine. Oak is far too heavy. It splits, is most 

 difficult to work, and warps most of all when in the 

 form of a thin plank it is subjected to heat or cold. 



Sides. These, in a small punt, if it can be ob- 

 tained sound, should be of elm ; in the larger, yellow 

 pine. 



Decks. In small punts fir, as it can be cut wide 

 enough for them, and it does not soak ; in the 

 larger crafts, where more strength is required, yel- 

 low pine. 



Floor-timbers. Elm or oak, as directed. These 

 should be cut out of grown wood with a curve of 

 one inch, if -ths is required. They will lose a 

 little of this, and when all are fixed their united 

 strength will give the floor a kammel of -|-ths. As 

 to knees, elm in the larger crafts (Irish elm is tough 

 as steel) ; oak in the smaller, as, when cut thin, it 

 is stronger than elm, and not then too heavy. All 

 knees to be well chosen from carefully grown 

 angles. A pair of knees to each other floor- 

 timber, and fastened to the latter as well as to the 

 sides and floor. Then all will spring together. 

 The legs of these knees should meet in the centre 

 of the floor, and limpet holes must be cut at their 



