VOL. XVI. XO. 53. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNA L. 



411 



nation to carry this opinion into practice tiie first 

 opportnnity, ami one soon occurred. 



In 1810, 1 was concerned in the liuilding of a 

 small f'reij^litin;; ship, of which I was tlio sole 

 conductor, from her keel until she was compleK-d 

 and ready (or sea. According to my previous de- 

 termination, I commenced tiie cutting of the tim- 

 bers for her in the early part of Decemher, and 

 continued it into the first week of January. By 

 so doing, I expected to produce the very best ship 

 on the Connecticut river, where there were then 

 numerous vessels building. The timber selected 

 was white oak, and white chestnut. The vessel 

 adv.mced, an<l in April it was found that three of 

 the quarter top tind)ers were wanting, and (as very 

 crooked pieces were reqiiired for these) 1 was 

 obliged to go into the woods and have them cut. 

 Some time in May, it was found that the stick 

 designed for plank-sheers this was very large, 

 and intended to make the whole that was wanted) 

 woidd not answer the purpose, except that it was 

 barely sufficient to go around the bows, the other 

 part heiug badly rent, and of course was rejected. 

 I therefore went into the woods a second time, 

 when the leaves were full grown and the bark 

 would peel, and had two thrifty white oaks cut 

 for the after pieces. These timbers were put in 

 immediately, and so were the plank-sheers, with- 

 out any seasoning whatever, and the room be- 

 tween tlie timber above the air streak was filled 

 with salt, which was supposed to be a preventive 

 against the dry rot. The workniauship was of 

 the first order. 



The vessel was launched, and completed in 

 July, 1811- That autumn she went to sea, and 

 after the declaration of the war of 1S12, she came 

 to .Middletovvu, and was laid up here until the 

 peace of 1815. In that spring, when she was to 

 bo fitted out again, it was lound that she must be 

 repaired in her hidl ; and on 0|)ening her, it was 

 perceived that the ilry rot had made such destruc- 

 tion among her timbers, that it became neces.sary 

 to build her anew from her middle wale up. — 

 But the three quarter-timbers spoken of, which 

 had been cut green, were sound, and appeared 

 new although their neighbors on each side of 

 them, were destroyed by the disease; and it is a 

 remarkable i'ar.l, that the spikes, when pulled out 

 of tlietn, were bright, and appeared new, but those 

 parts of them which came in contact with the 

 outside planks, (which were made from timber 

 cut in December,) were badly oxidated, so much 

 so, that they were reduced in size nearly one 

 quarter. The plank-sheers forward, which, it will 

 be remembered, were cut in December, were de- 

 stroyed by the disease, but the after pieces were 

 sound and dry, and the under sides appeared like 

 new tiudjer seascme<l in the shade ; and what is 

 remarkable as to them is, that although some of 

 the timbers on which they rested were so decayed 

 that they might be picked to pieces, yet there was 

 not the least appearance of it on theui, which 

 shows, that although surrounded by corruption, 

 they were themstkes, at least up to that period, 

 incorruptible. Thus it can be seen, as respects 

 this vessel, that not only the season of Hie year, 

 which in the popular opinion is the Jjest to cut 

 timber in, for the purpose of making it last well, 

 was strictly adhered to, but also the precautionary 

 measure of applying salt, which is, even at this 

 day, thought to retard the progress of the disease. 



Although it was not thought necessary at that 

 time to repair this ship below the niuldle wale, 



yet I have every reason to believe that the poison 

 had begun its work in her timbers, from light-wat- 

 er mark to her tup-side, for in 1816 or IS 17, in a 

 prrl'ect calm she sank at sea, a poor miserable do- 

 cayi'd hulk, a melancholy comment on the folly 

 of cMitting tiudier for vessels in the winter months. 

 By impiiry since, I have always found, that of 

 those vessels that hist the longest, the timber of 

 which they were constructed was cut the farthest 

 from December. 



The facts in this case entirely changed my opin- 

 ion. Before, I thought, because it was the gener- 

 al practice, that the winter months were the best 

 season to cut timber in ; now I liegan to reason, 

 to examine, and to compare. I fully believed that 

 the s.ip was the. cause of the dry rot, and wher- 

 ever that was storinl away, at the death of the 

 tree, there would it make its first attack ; I doubt- 

 ed, however, the botanical theory, that it is princi- 

 pally in its roots in the winter, and there protected 

 frofn injury by the frost; fori could not cleaily 

 see how the roots of the birch, beach and sugar 

 maple, (although the quantity they will bleed in a 

 season, is partly accounted for in their being sup- 

 plied by the fibre roots,) could contain their sap ; 

 and if they could, how it could be protected from 

 the frost there, any more than in any other part of 

 the tree, when not more than one tenth (lart of 

 the roots were below the frost. I was therefore 

 determined to ascertain, if possible, where the sap 

 reposed in trees, at difl'ereut seasons of the year. 



Accordingly, having cut a small oakstaddle, on 

 or about the twentieth of June, 1815, I placed sev- 

 eral pieces of it in the fireplace, and put fire under 

 them ; after a little while, there appeared at the 

 ends of the sticks a wet circle, describing the ex- 

 act thickness of the alburnum, and when they be- 

 came considerably heated, the steam rushed with 

 violence trom the tubes of the alburnum, .ind 

 there was but a slight appearance of vapor over 

 the surface of the heart-wood. On or about the 

 same day of the month of December, of the same 

 year, 1 had another small oak staddle cut, and 

 went through with the same process with several 

 pieces of it, and when they began to be he:ited, 

 the whole surface of the heart-wood, except a 

 small circle enclosing the pith, was wet, but the 

 alburnum was dry, and when they were fairly 

 lieated through, the steam rushed with violence 

 from the tubes of the heart-wood, although the 

 whole quantity tliat escajied was not so large as 

 in the other case. T.'ie results of these expiriments 

 accord with a knovv/i fact in regard to the sugar- 

 maple, namely, that no sap can be obtained from 

 the tubes of the alburnum of that tree, and there- 

 fore they are obliged to bore the hole for the tube 

 through the alburnum, into the heart-wood before 

 it will run.* 



The first experiment shows plainly, that the 

 sap is in the tubes of the alburnum in the sutn- 

 mer, and I believe this accords with the present 

 theory in botany ; and I believe also, that it is 

 conceded by botanists that the sap is the cause of 

 the dry rot; then why was the practcie of cutting 

 limber iu the winter ever introduced, except for 

 the purpose of economy in .saving the alburnum 

 from the rot r 



In the secon<l experiment it can be clearly seen, 

 that the doctrine of sap being principally in the 



+It will be rememhered that the sugar maple is always 

 tapped al the close of winter, and first dawning of spring, 

 wlien there are sunny days and frosty nights. — Ed. 



roots of trees in the winter, is fal.se, and therefore 

 should be discarded for the mischief it Uas already 

 done, and the trutli should be eslahlislied, which 

 is, that hi the xointer the sap is in tlie tubes of 

 the hdart-wood of the whole tree, roots, body and 

 hranche.i, and is there protected from injury by 

 the frost. By what process it gets there, and 

 how |)rntecteil, is perhaps yet veiled in mystery ; 

 but all must confess, that it is conveyed there by a 

 natural law, and thus protected from injury ; the 

 beneficent design is too obvious to be attributed to 

 any other than .Almighty power. 



At the period I was strenuously advocating the 

 doctrine of cutting timber in the winter, 1 had a 

 small apple-tree which liad b(!cn engrafted with a 

 choline fruit, and had been growing perhaps seven 

 or eii:ht years. Ther'? was one lind) on it which 

 I did not like, because it was growing in a wrong 

 direction, and therefore I took it off in Decem- 

 ber, because of course 1 did believe ihe sap to be 

 then in the roots, and therefore nt this season 

 there would none of it be washed or taken away 

 with the limb, and of consequence the branches 

 left would receive a greater proportion of nour- 

 ishment in the spring. After the occurrence of 

 the circumstances before detailed, I examined the 

 tree, and found that the part or stump of the 

 limb which remained within the surface of the 

 body, was affected by the dry rot m its purest 

 type. I removed this with my knife and found 

 that the disease had made its attack on the body 

 of the tree itself. The tree, after the limb was 

 taken ofi', became sickly, and its ffuiis, after it be- 

 gan to bear, was imperfect. 



I would here observe, that it is the common 

 practice, when people cut the timber of a house 

 frame, to do it in the winter, because, as they think, 

 it will be more durable ; but they will not trim 

 their trees at that season because they know by 

 experience that they will contract the rot, and 

 therefore they do it in the spring. Whatnatrango 

 oversight I But Doctor Ives, senior, of New 

 Haven, goes even farther ; he trims his trees in 

 June, and thinks they do better at that sea.son of 

 of the year because the wounds heal quicker. 

 This is right, for as the cause of the disease is 7iot 

 in the heart-wood at that season, so the retnain- 

 ing stump, being all heart-wood, can never be at- 

 tacked by the disease, and therefore the wound 

 will heal quicker ; hut if it is done in December, 

 the cause of the disease is in the heart-wood at 

 the death of the limb, and as the stumps cannot 

 be removed, the consequence is that the disease 

 attacks and very soon destroys them, and therefore 

 the wounds will never heal. Although trees thus 

 situated, may, by their abuadant foliage, their ex- 

 tended branches, and their smooth and comely bo- 

 dies appear to be in perfect health, (which is 

 sometimes the case,) yet they are doomed trees, 

 for the canker having entered into their organiza- 

 tion, is preying upon their very vitals, and will 

 sooner or later prostrate them in the dust. Jf any 

 accident should happen to a limb, so as to break 

 it off in the winter, no matter how small, if it be 

 connected with the main pith of the tree, the ef- 

 tect would be the same. And hence the origin 

 of what the carpenters ca\] punk knots, that so of- 

 ten appear in our most valuable white pine mast 

 sticks, and the indications of which on the outer 

 surface are many times so minute as to deceive the 

 most vigilent eye, but when perceived and traced, 

 will lead to a mass of decay around the region of 

 the pith. — {^To be continued."^ 



