68 TIMBER AND TIMBER TREES. [CHAP. 



weight afforded by trees of equal ages, whether grown 

 in forests or in open situations. Mr. Monteith states, in 

 his " Planter's Guide/' that 



An Oak 40 years old yields, for every cubic 



foot of timber Qlbs. to 12 Ibs. of bark. 



And if 80 to 100 years old yields, for every 



cubic foot of timber .. lolbs. to i61bs. ,, 



The question of the propriety of felling in the winter 

 jn preference to any other season is of considerable im- 

 portance, and its bearing upon the durability or other- 

 wise of the timber may be gathered from the following 

 particulars, taken from a " Treatise on Dry Rot," by 

 Ambrose Bowden. He states that 



" The ' Sovereign of the Seas/ built at Woolwich in 

 1635, was constructed of timber barked in the spring 

 and felled in the succeeding winter, a strong conviction 

 existing that such timber was superior to any other in 

 point of durability. Fo'rty-seven years later this ship 

 was pulled to pieces and rebuilt, and the greater part of 

 the materials were found to be in sufficiently good 

 condition for re-employment. 



"The ' Royal William/ built at Portsmouth in 1715 to 

 1719, after being slightly repaired at three different 

 times, was finally taken to pieces in August, 1813, after 

 a service of ninety-four years. The extreme durability 

 of this ship attracted much attention at the time, and it 

 was believed that, having been built in close proximity 

 to the New Forest, only winter-felled timber had been 

 used in her construction. This is said to be borne out 

 by the fact that the authorities at Portsmouth, about 

 1717 or 1718, offered, as an encouragement for the 

 delivery of winter-felled Oak timber to that yard, an 



