TIM 



TIM 



455 



they are supplied with wheat, rye, 

 spring corn, meadow and summer 

 grass, from their five fields, which 

 in any other management they 

 could scarcely be." Museum Rusti- 

 tum:\o\. VI. page 8j. 



To TILLER, to spread, or mul- 

 ply shoots. 



Grain that is sown tljin, in a good 

 soil, will produce a considerable 

 number of stalks and ears from one 

 root. Winter grain will tiller more 

 than that which is sown in the 

 spring; for which reason spring 

 grain should be sown thicker. 



TILTH, the state in* which 

 ground is after tilling. When it is 

 well pulverised, and made light to 

 a sufficient depth, it is said to be in 

 good tilth. 



TIMBER, wood for building, 

 mechanism, &c. 



It has been and still continues to 

 be a very general opinion, that tim- 

 ber should be felled in the winter, 

 while the sap is down. 



This has been for many years 

 past disputed, and an abundant 

 mass of evidence has been produc- 

 ed to shew that timber should be 

 cut or felled in mid summer, with 

 a view to its durability. It is so 

 very much opposed to vulgar opin- 

 ion that it requires much inquiry, 

 and frequent experiments to settle 

 it. But it is proper, in such a 

 work as this, to announce the mo- 

 dern opinion, in order to induce far- 

 mers to make the experiment. 



When the bark of timber trees 

 is wanted for use, the bark may be 

 stripped off from the trunks in May 

 or June, while the trees are stand- 

 ing, and the trees felled in autumn 

 following, or rather in winter. 



M. Buffon, of the Royal Acad- 

 emy of Paris, haspioved by a va- 

 riety of experiments, that the tim- 

 ber of trees thus barked is more 

 solid, hard, weighty and strong, 

 than the timber of trees felled in 

 their bark, and thence concluded, 

 with probability, that it is more 

 durable. 1 suspect that the in- 

 creased strengtti and solidity of the 

 wood were in the blea, or what is 

 vulgarly called the sap of the tree. 

 The surface so exposed will soon 

 be too hard to permit the entrance 

 of any worm. The saving of the 

 bark for tanning is sometimes so 

 important an object, where wood 

 has become scarce, that it may 

 well be worth while to go into this 

 practice. It is douhtless better 

 than the practice in England, 

 where felling begins about the end 

 of April ; a statute requiring it to 

 be done then, that the bark may 

 be saved for the advantage of tan- 

 ning leather. 



The ancients chiefly regarded 

 the age of the moon in felling their 

 timber. Their rule was to fell it 

 in the wane, or four days after the 

 new moon, or sometimes in the 

 last quarter. But this is of little 

 consequence. For the sap will be 

 down when the weather continues 

 day and night to be frosty, be the 

 moon's place as it may. 



Timber should be cut at the 

 right age. For if the trees be too 

 young, or too old, the timber will 

 be less durable. It is said that oak 

 trees should not be cut under sixty 

 years old, nor above two hundred. 

 Trees should however be cut in 

 their prime, when almost fully 

 grown, and before they begin to 



