234 TIMBER AND MAPLE TREES. 



Much poor exhausted lands in this country should be 

 planted with forests, to supply the waste of wood that 

 is constantly increasing. 



TIMBER. 



The winter has generally been considered the right 

 time for felling trees for timber; but it is observed, by 

 Mr. Kenrick^ in the New-England Farmer, that Mr. 

 Pickering appears to have established the important 

 fact, that white oak, felled or stripped, in barking time, 

 will be stronger, more com[)act, and nearly twice as du- 

 rable as timber felled in the winter season. Can there 

 be a doubt but the same means which produced this ex- 

 traordina'-y strength, &,c. in oak, would be productive of 

 similar effects in pine, and every other sort of timber ? 

 We can hardly imagine a discovery of more importance 

 to every section of our country, than the certainty, that 

 by merely felling their timber at a particular season of 

 the year, their bridges, fences, and buildings of every 

 kind, would last nearly double the usual time. 



Soaking timber in salt-water is very good to increase 

 its strength and durability. 



In order to preserve timber from cracking, while sea- 

 soning, let it be blocked out (from timber felled in the 

 spring) for ^he purposes wanted, and laid in a hay-mow 

 where the hay is carted in. When the hay is dealt out 

 in the winter, the pieces may be taken out well season- 

 ed, and free from cracks. 



The right time for cutting down trees for timber is, 

 xvhen they are in their prime, as the wood will then 

 have arrived to its greatest perfection, for hardness and 

 durability. 



Timber used for posts, will last considerably longer, 

 by setting the end in the ground which was uppermost 

 as it grew. 



Painting wood before the sap is dry hastens its decay. 



MAPLE TREES. 



There are many sorts of maples enumerated by bota- 

 nists ; the most valuable of which is the rock, or sugar- 

 maple, (^Acer Saccharinnm.) This tree seems to be 

 equally well adapted for ornament and for profit. Its 



