214 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



JANUARY 15, 1834. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JAN. 15, 1833. 



Mr. Coleman's excellent Address, we have re- 

 ceived, printed in a neat pamphlet. The author 

 will accept of our thanks for his donation, and we 

 shall he happy to transfer it, as soon as practicable, 

 to our columns. 



'■ A Subscriber," who requests us to publish a 

 list of the prices, paid for Mr. Williams' stock, is 

 respectfully informed that we have not yet been 

 able to procure such list. Should it come to hand, 

 we will give it an insertion. 



ON CUTTING WOOD FOR VARIOUS USES. 



There has been much diversity of opinion rela- 

 tive to the time of the year most proper for cutting 

 wood for timber or fuel. GoodselVs Farmer of the 

 26th ult. observes " that where durability is the ob- 

 ject, timber should be cut at that season when there 

 is least sap in it, say in February ; but where it is 

 for the purpose of clearing land, and the timber to 

 be cut is of a kind likely to sprout, then it is desi- 

 rable to have it cut when there is most sap in it, 

 as that not only prevents the stumps from sprout- 

 ing, but they rot much sooner than when cut in 

 February." 



This opinion of Mr. Goodsell is corroborated by 

 a writer for the JVtw York Farmer, in a communi- 

 cation republished in the N. E. Farmer, vol. 10, p. 

 237, 238. In this it is stated, " we do not seem 

 sufficiently aware of the range of expansion and 

 contraction of green and growing wood, or the ex- 

 tent of variation in hulk expanded and contracted 

 by heat and cold. When occupying the least space 

 the wood is of course most dense and compact, 

 and it has then the least possible quantity of sap in 

 it. More than 50 years ago my father had occa- 

 sion for a barn floor, for use in winter, the British 

 having been so managed that the farmers of the 

 north could return to their farms, on doing which 

 his was destitute of a barn floor. In the depth of 

 winter, as the only alternative, he cut down — felled 

 as the paper fanners say, large red oak trees, had 

 them sawed into 2 1-2 inch planks, and laid his 

 floor, perfectly green, expecting to lay them over 

 again when they got seasoned and shrunk as he sup- 

 posed they would do. This was all done in the se- 

 vere cold of a northern winter, and that floor has 

 never yet been overhauled, nor have the planks 

 opened a seam. The sap was all in its winter quar- 

 ters in the roots under the blanketing of the muck, 

 and of course could not be in the tree, which was 

 compacted into the smallest possible space. The 

 hoops of winter, in these days, were driven with 

 tremendous force. 



" From all those considerations, and facts, (I 

 could cite multitudes of similar facts,) I come to 

 the conclusion that the proper time to cut wood 

 for timber is when the sap is least in quantity in 

 such wood, and when this is least likely to lead to 

 a fermentation. The mpre saccharine matter it has 

 in it, the more likely it is to lead to this process, 

 as well as generally, the more sap. The sugar ma- 

 ple, which abounds in this quality, if cut immedi- 

 ately after the growth of wood of the year and 

 stripped of its bark, becomes even very dura- 

 ble as fence posts, if not set till thoroughly season- 

 ed. The same is also true of hemlock, and sever- 

 al other kinds of wood, hut they must be well sea- 

 soned, before set into the ground, as all fence posts 



should be. When wood occupies its least possible 

 space, it is a good time to cut it both for fuel and 

 timber." 



The late Col. Pickering, in an essay on " The 

 Felling of Trees for Timber," published in the 

 New England Farmer, vol. 1 page 17, gave certain 

 facts which led him to believe that " the best time 

 for Jetting timber trees, for durability, was when their 

 sap was vigorously flowing." Other writers, too nu- 

 merous to be here quoted, have also recommended 

 Slay and June, as the proper months for cutting 

 down timber trees, where durability is the object. 

 We will, however quote another passage from Col. 

 Pickering's essay above refered to. 



" Accident threw in my way the late Oliver 

 Evan's ' book on the construction of mills,' to which 

 was subjoined a treatise of a Mr. Elliot, a millwright, 

 on the same subject. Turning over some of the 

 leaves of this treatise, 1 lighted on the passage in 

 which the author directed hickory timber, intended 

 for the cogs of wheels, to be cut when the sap wus 

 running, that they might not become powder post." 



Col. Pickering adverts to the case of " a farmer, 

 the well pole (or sweep) of whose well happened 

 to break at a very busy time, and to supply its 

 place he cut down the first small tree, which came 

 to hand ; and this was a white birch. The sap 

 then running freely, he put up his pole, and it 

 lasted seventeen years. Had he put it up with the 

 bark on, it would, probably, have rotted in a year; 

 the closeness of the bark would have prevented the es- 

 cape of the sap. A close coat of paint laid on 

 unseasoned wood operates like the close birch 

 bark, by confining the sap, and hastening the de- 

 cay." 



Dryness is favorable, and moisture unfavorable 

 to the durability of timber. Green and growing 

 timber has less moisture in winter than in spring 

 or summer ; but its pores being less open in cold 

 than in warm weather, it cannot so well become 

 dry before it becomes rotten. But in spring, sum- 

 mer, and perhaps the forepart of autumn, the 

 pores of green wood are comparatively open, 

 the moisture more easily exudes or escapes, pro- 

 vided said pores are not sealed by the hark. If 

 one wishes to cut wood, and proposes to let it lie, 

 without being deprived of its bark, winter is his 

 time, with reference to durability. But if it is 

 proposed to strip the bark from the tree, the time 

 when the bark peels most easily, will, we believe, 

 be the season in which other things being equal 

 the timber will endure longest. 



If it is wished that when wood is cut, the tree 

 may sprout, and reproduce another cutting of 

 timber or fire wood, it is best to conform to the 

 practice of Gen. Newhall, of Lynfield, Mass. who 

 observed as follows : 



" Having woodland, from which I have cut, an- 

 nually, for several years past, from twenty to fifty 

 cords of wood, it has been my practice to have it 

 cut at the time and in the manner that would best 

 insure a strong and vigorous growth of sprouts. 

 To effect this purpose, I never allow a tree to be 

 cut till after the autumnal frosts have caused the 

 leaves to fall, and the sap to descend to the roots, 

 nor later in the vernal season than the month of 

 April. The manner of cutting, is to leave the 

 stumps nearly on a level with the surface of the 

 ground, from which the suckers are much more 

 strong and vigorous, and less liable to be injured 

 by high winds, than a growth from stumps cut 

 twelve or fifteen inches high, as is the practice of 



" Pursuing this course, I have never been dis- 

 appointed ; and have now on land from which 

 trees were cut in the midst of winter, a growth of 

 sprouts, of the most vigorous and promising ap- 

 pearance. 



" Respecting large trees, the growth of centu- 

 ries, cut them at whatever season you please, 

 there is scarcely one stump in a thousand that will 

 produce suckers. 



" In a community where fuel is an expensive 

 article, every proprietor of woodland should man- 

 age it in such a way, as not only to be profitable 

 to himself, but, as shall preserve the growth for 

 the generation to come." — .V. E. Farmer, vol. x. p. 9. 



MASS." HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Horticultural Hall, Jan. 11, 1834. 

 EXHIBITION OF FRUITS. 



The season for the exhibition of fruits, &c. be- 

 ing nearly over, but few specimens were this day 

 exhibited — those few, were however, of the first 

 quality, and from distant sources. 



From Judge Buel of Albany, the Jonathan Ap- 

 ple, a new and superior fruit, and esteemed in its 

 season, by him and other good judges in that vi- 

 cinity, as one of the most beautiful, excellent, and 

 admired of all known. I have been lately favored 

 by this gentleman with descriptions of some of 

 their very best varieties, and from these 1 extract 

 the following — 



Jonathan. Philip Rick of the Kingston Or- 

 chards, " Fruit round, flattened at the ends, regu- 

 lar shaped, 2 1-2 inches in diameter, and 2 1-4 

 deep. Eye in a broad deep cavity, slightly angu- 

 lar. Stem 3-4 of an inch, slender, in a deep, 

 round cavity. Skin thin, of a pale red, blended 

 with faint yellow, with brown specks, and deep- 

 ening into bright red and dark purple, particularly 

 near the stent on the sunny side. Flesh very ten- 

 der, white, occasionally tinged with red. Juice, 

 very abundant, rich, and highly flavored. Core, 

 very small. Named in compliment to my friend 

 Jonathan Harbrauck, Esq. of Kingston, N. Y. to 

 whom I am indebted, originally, for this excellent 

 apple. The original tree, it being a seedling, is 

 growing in Woodstock, Ulster county, on the farm 

 of Mr. Philip Rick. Ripe from Dec. to April." 



From Charles H. Olmsted, Esq. of East Hart- 

 ford, Conn, specimens of the Belmont Apple were 

 received. These were brought by him from Rock- 

 port, Cayuga Co. Ohio. The Belmont is a very 

 large, round fruit, the stalk short; of a pale straw 

 color, with brown specks; a faint blush next the 

 sun. The flesh tender, juicy, of a rich, subacid, 

 and excellent flavor. See Mr. Olmsted's letter, in- 

 serted below.* Also, another variety was sent by 

 Mr. Olmsted, its name unknown, from the farm of 

 Mr. Samuel S. Belden, of East Hartford — Around 

 fruit, of good size, of a white or pale straw color, 

 slightly covered with red, next the sun ; of a sac- 

 charine, slightly acid, and good flavor. 

 For the Committee, 



William Kenrick. 



ITEMS OF INTELLIGENCE. 



A young man named J. H. Marshal, of Newport, lost 

 his way on the Sunapee mountain on Thursday last, and 

 was compelled to spend a night amidst its dreary sum- 

 mits during a severe snow storm. When he reached a 

 house the next day he was nearly exhausted. 



' The letter here relerred to, has not come to haud.— Editor, 



