660 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



and dry, it ought to l)e all turned over, and the small bark spread out, so as not to allow it to sit together, 

 which, if much pressed, it is apt to do ; and if it does so with the natural sap in it, it has a chance of 

 moulding, which is extremely hurtful to the bark, and both lessens it in weight and in value. After 

 the bark has stood on the ranges about eight or ten days, if the weather be good, it may either be put 

 into a house or a shed, or if intended to be put up into a stack it may now be done. A stack of bark 

 ought never to exceed eight feet in width, and twelve or fifteen feet in height, raised in the middle 

 like a haystack. If it is to stand any length of time in the stack, it ought to be thatched, and in that 

 state may remain all winter. The greatest care ought to be taken to preserve the colour of the inner 

 parts of the bark, because the colour of it is generally looked to as a principal criterion of its value. 

 Before being put into the stack, the natural sap ought to be dried out of it, in order to prevent its 

 fermenting ; because, if a fermentation takes place in one part of the stack, it generally <foes through and 

 spoils the whole. The same mode of treatment will do for all kinds of bark as well as li e oak : but the 

 birch has an outer or shreddy skin upon it, that is rejected by the tanner, and, as already observed, must 

 be peeled off. 



4052. Chopping the bark. " When the bark is ready for the tanner, it has to undergo the work of 

 chopping, which is done by driving in two or more stakes into the ground, with a fork on the upper end 

 of each, leaving them about two feet six inches from the ground, and laying a long small piece of wood 

 across between the two, where a number of people stand, and the bark is carried and laid down behind 

 them, which they take up in their hands and lay on the cross tree, and then, with a sharp whittle or 

 bill in the other hand, they cut it into small pieces, about three inches in length : when this is done, it is 

 trampled into bags, which hold about two hundred weight each, and in these bags it is weighed when 

 sold by the ton, in tons, hundred weights, quarters, and pounds, and in the above manner delivered to 

 the merchant or tanner." {Forester's Guide, 199.) 



4053. T/ie disbarked timber is prepared for sale by being sorted into straight poles of the largest size, 

 stakes and other pieces fit for palings, faggots, fuel, &c. The unbarked wood is similarly sorted, and 

 affords, where there is much hazel or ash, cord wood or bundles of clean shoots for making packing 

 crates, hampers, &c , poles for hops, larger poles for fences, rails, paling-stakes, stakes and shoots for 

 hurdles, besom stuff', spray for distillation, and a variety of other objects, according to the local demand, 

 or the opportunity of supplying a distant market by land-carriage. The brush or spray of non-resinous 

 trees is called in some places ton- wood, and is used for distilling the pyrolignous acid used in bleachfields 

 and calico print-works. " When wood of this description is sent to Glasgow, where there are extensive 

 works for the purpose of distilling it, it sells readily at from 1/. 2s. to 1/. 10s. per ton ; but when there 

 are large cuttings, particularly of young woods, it is worth while to erect boilers near the wood to distil 

 it, as these boilers can be erected at no great expense, and in this case the liquid is easily carried in 

 casks to where it is consumed, at less expense than the rough timber could be ; of course it will pay 

 much better. Small wood of this description is also used for charcoal : but in distilling it, there is part 

 of it made into charcoal, which will supply the demand of that article, so that it is by far the most 

 profitable way, when there is any great quantity to dispose of, to erect boilers and distil it ; unless where 

 the local situation of the wood will admit of its being shipped at a small expense, and carried to where 

 the works mentioned are carried on. All kinds of non-resinous woods will give the extract in question ; 

 but oak, ash, Spanish chestnut, and birch, are the best." {Forester's Guide, 155.) Where the oak grows 

 slowly, as in the Highlands, the but-ends of the poles are used for spokes for chaise wheels. " Long 

 spokes are from thirty to thirty-two inches long by three inches and a half broad, and one inch and a half 

 thick, and the short ones for the same purpose, from twenty-two to twenty-four inches long, and the 

 same sizes otherwise. Cart-wheel spokes, from twenty-six to twenty-eight inches long, four inches 

 broad by two inches tlyck. These are the sizes they require to stand when rough blocked from the axe; 

 Small wood, when sold for this purpose, brought, in 1820, 2s. a cubic foot, measured down to three inches 

 square." {Monteith.) 



4054. In some cases copse-woods are sown with grass-seeds, and pastured by sheep, horses, and cattle. 

 Some admit the animals the fifth year after the last cutting ; others, not till the eighth : but Monteith 

 thinks this should never be done till the fifteenth year. If the ground is properly covered with 

 trees, it can seldom be advantageous to admit any species of stock, unless during a month or two 

 in winter. 



4055. Pollard-trees, which may be considered in most cases as injurious deformities, 

 are lopped at stated periods like copse-woods ; and the lop, whether to be barked or other- 

 wise, is to be treated in all respects like that of copse. 



4056. The period at which trees are felled, for the sake of their timber, is determined 

 by various causes. By maturity of growth, or where the annual increase is so trifling as 

 to render their standing no longer worth while in point of profit ; when wanted for pri- 

 vate use or sale ; or when defects in the tree, or new arrangements in its situation, point 

 out the necessity of its removal. " A timbered estate," Marshal observes, " should fre- 

 quently be gone over by some person of judgment ; who, let the price and demand for 

 timber be what they may, ought to mark every tree which wears the appearance of decay. 

 If the demand be brisk, and the price high, he ought to go two steps farther, and mark 

 not only such as are full-grown, but such also as are near perfection." In trees, as in 

 the human species, there are three stages, youth, manhood, and old age. In the period 

 of youth, the growth is rapid ; in manhood, that growth is matured j and in old age, 

 it begins to decay. 



4057. ne most profitable season for felling ti?nber is at what may thus be termed the beginning of man- 

 hood. After that time, though the tree may appear sound and healthy, its annual increase is so little, that 

 it would be more profitable to cut it down and replant. The number of years that a tree may stand, before 

 it arrives at this period, must vary in different soils and situations ; but the period itself may easily be 

 ascertained by the annual shoots, the state of the bark, and by taking the circumference of the tree at the 

 same place for two or three successive seasons, and comparing the difference. In the view of profiting 

 from timber produce, it is of great consequence to cut down plantations at maturity. Many trees will 

 stand half, others a whole century, after they are full-grown, appear quite healthy, and at the same time 

 make little or no increase of timber. But there are particular cases, arising from the nature and state of 

 the markets, where it may even be more profitable to cut timber before it is arrived at a full growth. 

 {Treat, on Countr. Res. ii. 577.) 



4058. Preparations for felling. It has been strongly recommended to disbark trees a year or more 

 before they are taken down, in consequence of the result of certain experiments commenced by Buffbn 

 in 1737. In May of that year, he disbarked three oak trees, forty feet in height, where they stood. In 

 the course of three years they died, and, on cutting them down, the outer wood was found hard and dry, 

 and the internal wood moist and softer. After trying its strength, &c., he concludes that " timber which 

 has been disbarked and dried while standing, will weigh heavier, and prove stronger, than timber cut in 

 its bark." Bosc and other French authors (in Cours Compl. d'Agr. &c. art. Aubier, Bois, Querctis, &c.) 

 strongly recommeftd this practice, which is followed in some places on the Continent, and in this country 



