968 PRACTICE OF GARDENING. PART III. 



thire Report, p. 218. ; namely, ' that it is a fact established by experience, that it will not renew itself, 

 if it remains uncut, beyond the space of about forty years.' " (Gen. Rep. of Scotland, 218.) Where 

 there is a considerable tract of copse-wood, it is common to divide it into portions, in number according 

 to the period of cutting. These are to be cut in rotation, so that when the last portion is cut over, the 

 first is again ready for cutting. 



6941. The season for cutting the kinds of trees whose barks are not made use of, is winter and early in 

 spring; but the oak and other trees which are peeled, are left till the middle of April or May. Birch 

 and larch woods will peel nearly a month earlier than the oak. Should there be no frost, birch and 

 larch may be peeled about the beginning of April ; but the birch is commonly allowed to stand till July, 

 and the peeling of it is commenced after that of the oak has been completed ; and the reason is, there is 

 an outer skin upon birch-bark which requires to be taken off, as it is of no use to the tanner, and renders 

 that part which is of use more difficult to be ground, and the month of July is the only time at which 

 the two barks can be separated with ease, as at this time the juice or sap has made its circulation 

 through the tree and bark, and this circumstance renders the separation more easy. From the beginning 

 of May to the middle of July is the usual time for barking the oak. The earlier in the spring this oper- 

 ation is performed on the oak, both for the growth, if a natural wood, and for the bark, the better. 

 When the sap has begun to rise, the bark will easily be detached from the wood, and it ought then to be 

 taken off without loss of time ; and if the whole could be taken off before the leaf is completely deve- 

 loped, the bark would be better. After the sap has arisen to the leaf and new growth, the bark becomes 

 more dry, and requires more beating to separate it from the wood. And when what is called the black 

 sap is descending the tree, the bark taken off is black, and loses its original color ; and at this time also 

 the bark begins to throw off a scurf, more especially young bark without much cork on it ; this outer 

 skin having less of the proper sap or juice, and being much drier when taken off, will weigh less, and 

 consequently will not be so valuable. If possible, oaks should be barked by the middle of June, as every 

 ton of bark taken off after the first of July will be deficient two cwt. per ton, compared with the same 

 quantity taken off in May or early in June. 



6942. The termination of cutting is generally fixed for the fifteenth day of July, and after this date there 

 should not be a single stool of oak wood cut that is intended for the growth ; and as soon as possible after 

 the fifteenth, the whole of the wood and bark should be carried away, that the young growths may 

 not be disturbed or injured, as at this time they will have made considerable progress ; at any rate, there 

 should neither be wood nor bark remaining within the new cut hag after the first of August ; nor should 

 either horse or cart be permitted to enter it after that period, for after the beginning of August, oaks 

 make what is termed a lammas growth, and the future prosperity and health of the coppice, in a great 

 measure, depend on the first year's growth, as far as regards form and vigor of the shoots. (Forester's 

 Guide, 69.) 



6943. The best mode of cutting is evidently that of using a saw, and cutting the shoots over in a slanting 

 direction close by the surface. When the stool, after having been cut several times, has acquired con- 

 siderable diameter, it is customary in the midland counties, Marshall states, to hollow it out in the centre, 

 from a notion that by rotting away the central roots, the circumferential stems will grow more vigor- 

 ously, and become as it were separate plants. This is in fact the case in very old copses. For several 

 cuttings, however, it must evidently be the safer policy to keep the stool highest in the middle to throw 

 off the rain, and preserve it sound. 



6944. Monteath says, " It will be found, upon experiment, perfectly evident, that stools dressed down to 

 the surface of the ground, (taking care always not to loosen the bark from the root, or allow it to be peeled 

 off in the smallest degree below the earth, but rounded down level to it,) that these stools will send forth 

 the most vigorous shoots, and stand the weather, and be the stoutest and best throughout the age of the 

 coppice." (Forester's Guide, 61.) From the late season at which the trees to be barked are generally 

 cut, they often receive considerable injury, both from that circumstance, and the manner in which the 

 operation is performed. Monteath appears to us to have furnished the best directions for executing the 

 work in a safe manner. He first sends a person furnished with an instrument with a sharp cutting edge 

 (fig. 140.) through the copse, whose business is " to trample down the long grass or foggage all round the 

 root, and then, to make a circular incision into the bark so deep as to reach the wood, at about an 

 inch above the surface of the earth ; thus the bark when taken off, will injure no part of that which is 

 below the circular incision." 



6945. The root of the tree being thus prepared, the cutters ought to proceed to their part of the 

 work, not with an axe, however, as is most generally recommended, but with a saw, because, in cutting 

 with the axe unless the root of the tree be so small in diameter as to be severed in one or two strokes at 

 most, the axe loosens the root to such a degree, that it not only loses the present year's growth, but often 

 fails altogether to grow. Therefore if the diameter of the root be six inches, or upwards, it should always 

 be cut with a cross-cut saw ; entering the saw about half an inch above where the circular incision has 

 been made into the bark, if a small tree ; but if the tree be ten or twelve, or more inches in diameter, 

 the saw ought to be entered two inches above it 



6946. There are two advantages to be derived from cutting with the saw; it has no tendency to 

 loosen the root of the tree, but leaves it in such a condition as to be more easily and properly dressed ; it 

 also saves a portion of the wood that would otherwise be destroyed by the axe. On no pretence should 

 oaks of six inches' diameter be cut with an axe, but always with a saw. Having cut through the tree 

 with a saw, take a sharp adze, and round the edges of the stool or root, going close down to the surface 

 of the earth, taking with the adze both bark and wood, sloping it up towards the centre of the stool, 

 taking particular care always that the bark and wood both slope alike, as if they formed one solid body, 

 being sure always that the bark be not detached from the root An objection has been made to this mode 

 of cutting with the saw, as taking up too much time ; but I have found that two men with a cross-cut 

 saw, kept in good order, will cut as much as two men will with an axe. (Forester's Guide, 58.) 



6947. The 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, ham- 

 pers, &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 oppor- 

 tunity 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 bleach-fields 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 IL 2s. to II. 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 b'quid 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 char- 

 coal, 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 wood will give the extract in question, excepting fir ; but oak, ash, Spanish 

 chestnut, and birch, are the best," (Forester's Guide, 155.) Where the oak grows slow, as in the high- 

 lands, the but-ends of the poles are used for spokes for chaise-wheels. " Long spokes are from thirty 

 to thirty-two inches 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- 



