Book II. PRODUCTS OF TREES. 661 



with the oak and larch ; but not, as far as we have learned, with any other tree. Monteith finds it by 

 far the most efficient way of seasoning larch tinber. He barked some trees in spring, and did not cut 

 them down till autumn, and others stood in the peeled state for two years. After various and extensive 

 trials, he is "decidedly of opinion, that the larch treated in this way at thirty years of age will be found 

 equally durable with a tree cut down at the age of fifty years, and treated in the ordinary way." {Forester's 

 Guide, 152.) 



4059. As the dry rot (Merulius lachrymans Schutn.) is found to arise in a great measure from want of 

 seasoning, or at least to proceed with the greatest rapidity in timber not well seasoned, this practice seems 

 to deserve adoption in that point of view. {Encyc. Brit. Suppl. art Dry Rot.) In some parts of the north 

 of Europe, the trees are divested of their bark for a foot or two feet in height from the ground a year or 

 more previous to that on which they are to be felled. We saw this done in Poland and Lithuania ; but, 

 though we made diligent enquiry there and in Sweden, we could not learn distinctly the extent to which 

 it was practised in the latter country and Norway. It is occasionally practised in Poland, for the ostensible 

 purpose of hardening the soft wood : but also accompanied by a deep incision made for the purpose of 

 extracting tar ; a practice evidently injurious to the timber, and therefore generally, in these countries, 

 kept out of view. When trees stand close together, a very obvious preparation for felling is lightening 

 the tops of such branches aswould, in falling, do injury to the trees that are to be left, or to other ad- 

 joining objects. 



4060. The season qf felling is commonly winter, for timber not to be disbarked ; but some, for the re- 

 sinous tribe, recommend summer, as being the season in which it is generally felled in the north of Europe 

 and in the Alps. But the summer season is there adopted from necessity, as in winter the woods are so 

 filled up with snow that felling is hardly practicable. As the timber of these countries is generally squared 

 for the market, the soft wood is chiefly removed j so that the season of felling does not seem to them to be 

 of much consequence. Besides, the timber is never so full of sap in summer as it is in spring and autumn, 

 and therefore, next to midwinter, midsummer may be the best time for felling all kinds of timber trees. 

 Where the trees are disbarked at the base a year or more before felling, the soft wood will be partially 

 hardened ; but this practice is by no means general in the North. 



4061. Knowles, in a recent work on preserving the British navy, and on dry rot, &c., after collecting the 

 opinions of aU the ancient and modern authors who have written on felling timber, concludes that the 

 common notion that trees felled in winter contain less of sap or of the vegetable juices, than those cut 

 down at any other season of the year, is not true ; and that the method of barking standing trees in spring, 

 and not felling them till the succeeding winter, has not in any way realised the expectations formed of the 

 plan. After describing all the modes that have been adopted for seasoning timber, he concludes that the 

 best is to " keep it in air, neither very dry nor very moist ; and to protect it from the sun and rain by a 

 roof raised sufficiently high over it, so as to prevent, by this and other means, a rapid rush of air." [In- 

 quiry into the Means of preserving the British Navyfrotn Dry Rot, Sfc. by Knowles, Sec. to the Com. of 

 Surveyors, chap, iii.) 



4062. The operation of felling is performed either by digging an excavation round the stem, and cutting 

 the roots at two or three feet in distance from it, or by cutting over the stem at the surface. By the former 

 mode the root is obtained for use, and the ground more effectually cleared and prepared for the roots of 

 adjoining trees, or whatever crop is to follow. Where the tree is intended to stole, which can very seldom 

 be advisable in the case of cutting full-grown timber, or where there is some nicety requisite in taking it 

 down, so as not to injure other trees or adjoining objects, it is cut or sawn over, and the root, if to be re- 

 moved, dug out afterwards. " In cutting large trees, in order to make the tree fall the way required, 

 enter the cross-cut saw on that side of the tree it is intended to fall, and cut it about a third part through ; 

 then enter the saw at the other side, and when it is cut so far as to admit a wedge, place the wedge exactly 

 opposite the way you want the tree to fall, and keep driving it slowly till the tree is nearly cut through." 

 (Monteith.) The tree, being felled, is next divested of its branches, which are sorted into fence wood, 

 fuel, ton-wood, &c., according to the kind of tree ; and the trunk is generally preserved as entire as pos- 

 sible for the purchaser. Sometimes it is cut in two, and the root-cut, or but-end, being the most valuable, 

 sold for one class of purposes at a higher price, and the top-cuts for others somewhat lower. 



4063. The seasoning of timber consists in evaporating the fluid matter or sap by the natural warmth of 

 the atmosphere, with the precaution of screening the timber both from the direct action of the sun and 

 wind, otherwise it cracks, and receives much injury. As this process proceeds slowly and irregularly when 

 conducted in the ordinary way, Mr. Langton has discovered a new method of seasoning timber, consisting 

 in the removal of the greater part of the atmospheric pressure, and the application of artificial heat, by 

 which the time necessary to season green timber, and render it fit for use, is only about twice as many 

 weeks as the ordinary process requires years. In this process the power of an air-pump is added to draw 

 the sap out of the interior of the wood ; and the tendency of the fluid to the outside being thus increased, 

 a higher temperature than that of the atmosphere can be applied, with less risk of causing the timber to 

 split ; consequently the process may be completed in less time, and a few trials will show the best relation 

 between the time and heat for the different kinds of wood. The late Mr. Tredgold's opinion being asked, 

 he gave it as decidedly in favour of Mr. Langton 's process; and timber is now completely seasoned by 

 Mr. Langton in eight or ten weeks after the tree is cut down. [Neivton's Journal, vol. i. 2d series, p. 144.) 



4064. Seasoning timber by steeping. " Some remarkable facts respecting the durability that may be 

 given to timber by artificial means have been observed at Closeburn, The proprietor of that estate has, 

 for thirty years, been in the constant practice of soaking all fir and larch timber, after it is sawed into 

 planks, in a pond or cistern of water strongly impregnated with lime. In consequence of this soaking, the 

 saccharine matter in the wood, on which the worm is believed to live, is either altogether changed, or 

 completely destroyed. Scotch fir-wood, employed in roofing houses, and other indoor work, treated in 

 this manner, has stood in such situations for thirty years, sound, and without the vestige of a worm. In 

 a very few years fir-timber so employed, without such preparation, would be eaten through by that 

 insect" {Menteith of Closeburn, in Edin. New Phil. Journ. June, 1828.) 



4065. The roots of trees are the last product we shall mention. These should, in 

 almost every case, be effectually eradicated; to aid in which, in the case of very large 

 roots, splitting by wedges, rifting by gunpowder, tearing up by the hydrostatic press, or 

 by a common lever, may be resorted to. Some compact ash or oak roots are occasion- 

 ally in demand by smiths, leather-cutters, and others ; but, in general, roots should be 

 reduced to pieces not exceeding three feet long, and six inches in diameter, and put up 

 in stacks not less than three feet every way, but commonly containing two cubic yards. 

 These, when dry, are sold for fuel, or reduced to charcoal on the spot. In eradicating 

 and stacking up coppice-woods, it is common to allow a certain sum per stack, and 

 something for every acre of ground cleared ; if there are no trees to bark, allowances 

 are also made for the poles, faggots, &c., so that no part of the operation is performed 

 by day work. 



4066. The usual method of charring wood is as follows : The wood being collected 

 near the place intended for the operation, and cut into billets, generally about three feet 



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