142 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 3. 



timber, with a view to its durability. To rue, it 

 is a matter of much surprise, that the opinions of 

 practical men are not uniform and settled upon this 

 subject — a subject so important to almost every 

 man in society, and particularly to those who have 

 any interest in civil and naval architecture. The 

 subject, appears to be as unsettled in Europe as in 

 this country, or rather the prevailing opinion in 

 both countries is probably erroneous. It appears 

 to be the more general opinion in Europe and in 

 this country, and the practice has conformed to 

 this opinion, to lell timber in the winter, or while 

 the sap is down: or to be more precisely accurate, 

 in the. month of February in the old of the moon. 

 In France, by a royal ordinance of the year 1669, 

 the time of felling' naval timber was fixed from 

 the first of October to the fifteenth of April, in the 

 wane of the moon. Napoleon, having adopted 

 the opinion that ships built of timber felled at the 

 moment of vegetation, must be liable to rapid de- 

 cay, and require immediate repairs, from the ef- 

 fects of the fermentation of the sap, in those pieces 

 which had not been felled in the proper season, 

 issued a circular order to the commissioners of the 

 forests, that the time for felling naval timber should 

 be abridged, and that it should be in the decline 

 of the moon, from the first of November to the 

 fifteenth of March. Commodore Porter, of the 

 American Navy, in the communication which ap- 

 peared in the. A merican Farmer", gives it as his opin- 

 ion, that the most proper season for felling timber, 

 with a view to its durability, is in the winter, when 

 the sap has ceased to circulate. He is of opinion that 

 the moon has a powerful influence upon timber, as 

 well as upon many other tilings. 



Notwithstanding this powerful array of authori- 

 ty for felling timber in the. winter, while the sap is 

 down, to increase its durability, many experiments 

 have been made, which seem to establish the feet 

 that timber cut when the sap is in most active cir- 

 culation, is most durable. Mr. Benjamin Poor, 

 the owner or occupant of Indian Hill Farm, inthis 

 county, in a communication to Gorham Parsons, 

 Esq. published in the Massachusetts Agricultural 

 Repository, states the following fact as within his 

 own knowledge and observation. His grandfath- 

 er, in the fall of the year 1812, selected two white 

 oak trees, size, situation, general appearance as to 

 age and health and the soil, as near alike as pos- 

 sible. In the month of March following, in the 

 old of the moon, one tree was cut, the timber car- 

 ried to the mill and sawed into suitable limber and 

 scantling for an ox cart, and put it up to season 

 in the open air. The middle of June the other 

 tree was cut, carried to mill, and sawed as the for- 

 mer, suitable for an ox wagon, and put up in the 

 open air to season, and treated in every respect 

 like that cut in March. In the fall of the year, 

 both parcels of timber were housed, and in the 

 spring following an ox cart was made from one, 

 and an ox wagon was made from the other parcel, 

 both painted, and the work alike in all respects. 

 They were used principally for hauling stone, and 

 if there, was any difference in the service to which 

 they were used, it was that the June timber had 

 the hardest. They were both housed in the win- 

 ter and commonly remained out in summer. Mr. 

 Poor says, at this time (1821) the one made of 

 timber cut in March is very much decayed, the 

 sides defective, much bruised, and a general appear- 

 ance of decay, while that made of timber cut in 



June is perfectly sound, has not given way nor 

 started in the joints, or in any respect appears half 

 as much worn as the other, although it has had 

 the hardest service. 



The late Hon. Timothy Pickering, the first 

 president of our society, whose zeal and intelli- 

 gence, connected with his long experience and 

 great industry, give to his opinions much value, 

 appears to have been of opinion, that the best 

 time for felling timber trees lor durability, is, when 

 the sap is vigorously flowing. He states the fol- 

 lowing fact, as communicated to him by Joseph 

 Cooper, Esq., of New Jersey, a practical farmer. 

 Mr Cooper's farm lay upon the banks of the Del- 

 aware, nearly opposite Philadelphia, and was ex- 

 posed to the ravages of the British army while oc- 

 cupying that city. Pressed for fuel, his fences first 

 fell a prey to their necessities, and in the month of 

 May, 1778, they cut down a quantity of his white 

 oak trees; but circumstances requiring their sudden 

 evacuation of the city, his fallen timber was saved. 

 This he split into posts and rails. The ensuing 

 winter, in the old of the moon, in February, he 

 felled an additional quantity of his white oaks, and 

 split them into posts and rails to carry on hia 

 fencing. It is now, said Mr. Cooper, twenty-two 

 years since the fences made, of the May fallen tim- 

 ber were put up, and they are yet sound; where- 

 as those made of trees felled in February, were 

 rotting in about twelve years. Mr. Pickering treats 

 the notion, that the moon has an influence upon 

 timber or vegetation, as visionary. 



I have before said, that it is not yet well settled 

 whether the moon has any influence upon vege- 

 tation. It is, indeed, a singular fact, that this sub- 

 ject should remain unsettled even to the present day; 

 and yet it is so far unsettled, that probably one-half 

 of our farmers who have occasion to sow a field 

 of turnips, would prefer the old of the moon. I 

 have never had any belief in the supposed influence 

 of the moon, and have generally adopted the opinion, 

 that industry and sunshine will be very well with- 

 out any aid from the moon. I have generally 

 ranked this opinion of the moon's influence, with 

 those superstitions which would give importance 

 to the circumstance, whether the moon was first 

 seen over the right or left shoulder, or whether an 

 enterprise would be successful commenced on Fri- 

 day. And yet some men of great science and 

 experience are firm in the belief of its influence. 



It would be an amusing exercise to collect the 

 various opinions and facts, both ancient and mo- 

 dern, upon this subject, but it would far exceed the 

 limits of this discourse. I will however remark, 

 that the ancients paid great regard to the age of 

 the moon in the felling of their timber. Their 

 rules appear to have been to fell timber in the 

 wane of the moon, or four days after the new 

 moon; some say let it be the last quarter. Pliny 

 orders it to be in the very article of the change, 

 which happening in the last of the winter solstice, 

 the timber he says, will be immortal. Columella 

 says, from the twentieth to the twenty-eighth day. 

 Cato, four days after the full. Vegetius, from the 

 fifteenth to the twenty-fifth for ship timber, but 

 never in the increase: trees then much abound with 

 moisture, the only source of putrefaction. 



Commodore Porter, we have seen, is of the 

 opinion that limber should be felled in the old of 

 the moon to give it durability, and he expressly 

 says that it« influence is nearly, if not quite as 



