4'56 



FARMERS' REGISTEil. 



[No. 8 



?ary to rt-pair this Bhi[) below the uruldle-wale, yet I 

 have every reason to believe that tiie i)oison had 

 begun its work in her timber (roniiitfht- water mark 

 to her top-side; lor, in 181G or 1817, in a perlcct 

 cahn, she sank at sea, a poor miserable decayed 

 hull, a melancholy conuiieni on the folly of cutting- 

 timber lor vessels in the winter monilis. By m- 

 quiring since, I have always found that of those 

 vessels which last the longest, the timber of which 

 they were consirucled was cut the finnhest from 

 December. When I have known the period al 

 which certain trees have been cut, and also their 

 locality, I have aiierwards year after year exami- 

 ned their stumps, and watched their decay; and 

 have invariably found that in those of them which 

 were cut in the winter, the disease first made its 

 appearance in the heart-wood, and continued its 

 ravages until that was destroyed, and up to that 

 period the alburnum was comparatively sound; 

 whilst in those which were cut in the summer, 

 the disease first made its appearance in the albur- 

 num, which in a few years entirely disappeared, 

 whilst the heart-wood remained sound. 



"There are numerous liicts in the most common 

 transactions of life that will sustain me in my po- 

 sition. I believe that the general practice through- 

 out the northern and middle slates, is to j)ee] sui'h 

 trees as are to be manulactured into ship plank; 

 by saving the bark, this probably makes the busi- 

 ness more profitable than it would otherwise be. 

 It is invariably the case that by the time the plank 

 has become thoroughly seasoned, the alburnum 

 becomes so much injured by the dry-rot as to be 

 unfit to be used ; and for my own part, I never 

 saw any timber ol'this sort, where the heart- wood 

 was affected at all, unless the tree haj evidently 

 co.itracted the disease belbrc its death. The sea- 

 son lor peeling is from the third v/eek in May to 

 the second in June. Farmers cut I heir rails in the 

 summer, when the bark will peel, and they last 

 from filly to a hundred years. They account for 

 the fict in this way; il"they cut themin the winter, 

 the bark will stick fast to the rails, and after a little 

 while, the water gets under it and causes them to de- 

 cay sooner. On the contrary, they cut their posts in 

 the winter ; probably this is done for the conveni- 

 ence of cutting holes in them at that season ; and 

 although their rails last so long, yet their posts 

 begin to decay in seven or eight years, according 

 to the soil in which they are placed. When from 

 necessity they are obliged to cut a few posts in the 

 sunmier, (with the expectation however that they 

 will soon decay) if they lant thirty or forty years 

 (and there are instances of this kind) they speak 

 of it as a very remarkable circumstance but never 

 inquire into the natural cause, nor alter their prac- 

 tice. There are otlicr instances of the extraordi- 

 nary longevity of timber ; wooden abutments to 

 bridges, pumps, piles, Ibundations of weirs, cof- 

 fer-dams &c, a full notice of which would fill a 

 volume ; all going to show that there is a season 

 in which if timber be cut, it will last for many years 

 beyond the average time for which it now lasts; 

 and that there is a season in which if it be cut, it will 

 not last over eight or ten years, notwithstanding 

 any artificial process through which it may be 

 made to pass. In my opinion, June is the liest 

 time in which to cut timber, in order to make it 

 last, though I do not suppose that it would make 

 any great difference if it were cut in cither of the 

 other summer months. 



"At the period at which ( was strenuously ad- 

 vocating the doctrine of cutting limber in the win- 

 ter, I had a siTiall apple tree which had been en- 

 grafted with a clioice fruii, and had been growing 

 perhaps seven or eight years. There was one 

 limb on it which I did not like, because it was 

 growing in a wrong direction. I took it off in De- 

 cember, because I believed the sap to be then in 

 the roots, and therefore at this season there woul'l 

 be none of it wasted or taken away with the limb, 

 and of course the branches lelt would receive a 

 ffrealcr portion of nourishment in the spring. 

 Sometime afterward, 1 examined the tree, and 

 Ibimd that the part or stump of the limb which re- 

 mained wiiliin the surface of the body, was aflecteil 

 with the dry-rot in its purest type. I removed 

 this with my knife, and lijund that the disease had 

 made its attack on the body of the tree itself. The 

 tree, after the limb was taken off, became sickly, 

 and its fiuit after it began to bear was imperfect. 



"I would here observe, that it is the common 

 practice, when people cut the timber of a house 

 (i-ame, to do it in tlie winter, because, as they think, 

 it will be more durable; but they will not trint 

 their trees at that season, because they have 

 learned fiom experience that if lliey do, the trees 

 will contract the dry-rot ; therefore they do h in 

 the spring. But Dr. Ives of INew Haven, goes 

 even further; he trims his trees in June, and 

 thinks they do belter at that season of the year, 

 because llie wounds heal quicker. This is right, 

 lor as the immediate cause of the disease is not 

 contained in the heart-wood at that season, there- 

 fcire the remaining stump being almost all heart- 

 wood, can never be attacked by the disease, and 

 llie wound will heal quicker; but if the trimming 

 be done in December, the cause of t!ie disease is 

 contained in the stunq-s at that season and as 

 they cannot be removcil, the con.cequence is, that 

 the disease soon attacks antl destroys them, and 

 then the wound will never heal. Although treca 

 thus situated, may by their abundant li)liage, their 

 extended branches and their smooth bodies, ap- 

 pear to be in perfect health, (which is sometimes 

 the case) yet they are doomed trees ; (or the can- 

 ker iiaving entered into their organization, is prey- 

 ing upon their very vitals, and will sooner or later, 

 prostrate them in the dust." 



In the communication from which the preceding 

 statements have been taken, there are many other 

 (acts given, all going to establish the same point ; 

 viz., that timber should be cut, and trees shoukl 

 be trimmed in the summer, and not in the winter, 

 as is the common praciice. I should reaiark, how- 

 ever, that these statements concern more especially 

 such timber as the oak, chestnut, &c., and not 

 those trees whose heart-wood is filled with resi- 

 nous matter, such as the diilcrent species of pine ; 

 in the case of these last mentioned tree?, I do not 

 suppose that it will make much difference at what 

 season they be cut. Perhaps it ma^' be objected 

 to cutting timber in the summer, that a farmer is 

 generally so busy at that season, that he cannot 

 spare the time necessary, from his other occupa- 

 tions. But let it be recollected that it is not neces- 

 sary that the timber should be (ully prepared for 

 its intended use at that season, but only cut down, 

 or perhaps even girdling would do, if it be made 

 sufficiently deep to kill the tree, and the work may 

 then be left to be finished at a time of greater lei- 

 sure. Should a farmer be obliged to hire this 



