MR, moseley's address. 17 



season in the open air. The middle of June the other tree was 

 cut, carried to mill, and sawed as the former, suitable for 

 an ox wagon, and put up in the open air to season, and treated 

 in every respect like that cut in March. In the fall of the year, 

 both parcels of timber were housed and in the spring following 

 an ox cart was made from one, and an ox wagon was made 

 from the other parcel, both painted, and the work alike in all 

 respects. They were used principally for hauling stone, and if 

 there was any difference in the service to which they were us- 

 ed, it was that the June timber had the hardest. They were 

 both housed in winter and commonly remained out in summer. 

 Mr. Poor says, at this time (1821) the one made of timber cut 

 in March is very much decayed, the sides defective, much 

 bruised, and a general appearance of decay, while that made of 

 timber cut in June is perfectly sound, has not given way nor 

 started in the joints, or in any respect appears half as much 

 worn as the other, although it has had the hardest service. 



The late Hon. Timothy Pickering, the first President of our 

 Society, whose zeal and intelligence, connected with his long 

 experience and great industry, give to his opinions much values 

 appears to have been of opinion, that the best time for felling 

 timber trees for durability, is, when the sap is vigorously flowing. 

 He states the following fact, as communicated to him by Joseph 

 Cooper, Esq., of New Jersey, a practical farmer. Mr. Cooper's 

 farm lay upon the banks of the Delaware, nearly opposite Phi- 

 ladelphia, and was exposed to the ravages of the British army 

 while occupying that city. Pressed for fuel, his fences first fell 

 a prey to their necessities, and in the month of May, 1778, they 

 cut down a quantity of his white oak trees ; but circumstances 

 requirint^ their sudden evacuation of the city, his fallen timber 

 was saved. This he split into posts and rails. The ensuing 

 winter, in the old of the moon, in February, he felled an addi- 

 tional quantity of his white oaks, and split them into posts and 

 rails to carry on his fencing. It is now, said Mr. Cooper, twen- 

 ty two years since the fences made of the May fallen timber 

 were put up, and they are yet sound ; whereas those made of 

 trees felled in February, were rotting in about twelve years. 

 3 



