314 ON THE CULTIVATION OF TREES. 



every time the wood-cutter enters the forests ; it is well 

 they are not endowed with a consciousness of the risk 

 they run. And at what age are timber- trees felled ? 



Mrs. B. Their length of life will be more likely to 

 excite your envy than your compassion. Oaks and 

 beeches are not considered as ripe for timber, until they 

 have attained the age of 120 or 130 years. After that 

 period, there is a greater chance of their deteriorating, 

 than of their improving. 



Caroline. Wood for burning, then, cut down in the 

 successive fellings is from twenty to nearly fifty years of 

 age? 



Mrs* B. Beech, when not reserved for timber, is not 

 suffered to live beyond thirty years ; because, after that age, 

 young shoots will no longer sprout from the old stumps. 



Resinous trees do not shoot out afresh after felling ; 

 woods of firs must therefore be cut down altogether, and 

 resown ; or the forest may be felled in alternate stripes, 

 which is attended with this advantage, that the stripes left 

 growing shelter the young plants which shoot in those that 

 have been felled. When the firs are situated on the de- 

 clivity of a mountain, as it very frequently happens, the 

 wood-cutters must begin their operations from below, in or- 

 der to be able to carry away the trees with greater facility 



The proper season for felling forests, is from the mid- 

 dle of November to the middle of April ; and the instru- 

 ment best adapted for that purpose is a sharp axe, which 

 should be used as near the ground as possible ; the buds 

 of the old stumps shooting much more readily when an 

 axe is used than a saw. 



Emily. And pray what species of trees do you con- 

 sider as making the best fuel ? 



Mrs. B. That which is heaviest : the weight indicates 

 the quantity of carbon it contains ; and you may recol- 

 lect that, in the combustion of wood, it is the carbon 

 which gives out most heat. 



Caroline. Yet I should prefer the wood which pro- 

 duces most flame. Flame is so cheerful, that it appears, 

 perhaps, to give out more heat than it really does. 



1696. At what age are oak and beech ripe for timber'? 1697. At 

 what age is beech to be cut for fuel, and why! 1698. What is said 

 of the felling of fir trees'? 1699. And situated on the declivity of a 

 mountain! 1700. What is the proper season of the year for felling 

 forests! 1701. What species of trees is best for fuel! 



