of Soils, and of Timber. 109 



• ^- ' ' = 



sides being soft and light, it is straight and free from 

 knots, and of consequence is much more readily cut, 

 squared, and put up ; hence a comfortable house, or a 

 convenient barn, is built with an astonishing rapidity 

 of it. The shingles are also very durable, and rea- 

 dily wrought, and the boards exactly suited for every 

 purpose, except the lower floors, and even for those 

 they are by no means a bad substitute for the yellow 

 pine. Rails also, for fencing, are readily formed from 

 this timber, and are only exceeded in durability by 

 chesnut. Hemlock is sometimes used for'buiiding, 

 but does not last when exposed to the weather, and of 

 course rails are not split from this wood: but the poles, 

 when used for that purpose, prove by no means defi- 

 cient in point of durability, when the fence does not 

 lie under the shade, and dripping from the trees, — 

 Hemlock roots generally rot quickly, and the tree falls 

 quite as soon, or sooner, than any other, and for this 

 quality it is less dreaded by the cultivators than the 

 white pine, but it appears that experience has taught 

 them that they sometimes continue sound, and stand 

 much longer on the ground, than usual, and also ob- 

 tain considerable additional hardness, and, they sup- 

 pose, proportionate durability, but this has not been 

 tried, neither can I gather from them, with any de- 

 gree of certainty, the time when those durable trees 

 were girdled, although they believe this effect was pro- 

 duced by the season, when the operation of girdling 

 took place. It appears probable, that this opinion 

 is correct ; for the practice of barking trees, while 

 standing, has been adopted in some parts of Europe, 



