BOOK XVI. Lxxiv. 188-191 



LXXI V. The proper time for felling trees that are to seaion and 

 be stripped of their bark, for instance well-turned trees mH'^'^'' ■^'^ 

 that are to be used for temples and other purposes timber. 

 requiring round pillars, is when they bud — at other 

 times the bark is impossible to detach and decay 

 is setting in under it and the timber is turning 

 black ; but the time for cutting beams and logs 

 to be cleared of their bark by the axe is between 

 midwinter and the period of westerly wind, or if we 

 should be obHged to do it sooner, at the setting of 

 Arcturus and, before that, at the setting of the Lyre, 

 — on the earliest calculation at midsummer: the 

 dates of these constellations will be given in the 

 proper place. It is commonly thought sufficient to xtiii. 27], 

 take care that no tree is felled to be rough-hewn ^^^* 

 before it has born its fruit. The hard oak if cut in 

 spring is Uable to wood-worm ; if cut at midwinter 

 it neither rots nor warps, but otherwise it is even 

 liable to twist and to spht, and this happens in the 

 case of the cork-tree even if felled at the proper time. 

 It is also of enormous importance to take account 

 of the moon, and people recommend that trees should 

 be felled only between the twentieth and thirtieth 

 days of the month. It is universally agreed, however, 

 that the most advantageous time for felhng timber is 

 when the moon is in conjunction with the sun, the 

 date which some call the interlunar day and others 

 the day of the moon's silence. At all events those 

 were the limits fixed in advance by the Emperor 

 Tiberius for felHng larches in Raetia for the re- 

 construction of the deck of the Naval Sham Fight" 

 when it had been burnt down. Some people say that 

 the moon ought to be in conjunction and below the 

 horizon, a thing that can only happen in the night. 



5" 



