244 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 



ed singly. If partialities are to be indulged for any, thej 

 should be surrounded by a copse of younger trees by which 

 they will be in a measure protected. Young stocks should be 

 left in numbers greater than are required, as many of them 

 will die, and from the remainder selections can be made of 

 such as will best answer the purposes designed. 



THE PROPER TIME FOR CUTTING TIMBER. 



Nine-tenths of the community think winter the time for 

 this purpose, but the reason assigned " that the sap is then in 

 the roots" shows its futility, as it is evident to the most su- 

 perficial observer that there is nearly the same quantity of sap 

 in the tree at all seasons. It is less active in winter, and like 

 all other moisture, is congealed during the coldest weather; 

 yet when not absolutely frozen, circulation is never entirely 

 stopped in the living tree. Reason or philosophy would seem 

 to indicate that the period of the maturity of the leaf, or from 

 the last of June to the first of November, is the season for 

 cutting timber in its perfection. Certain it is, that we have 

 numerous examples of timber cut within this period, which 

 has exhibited a durability twice or three times as great as that 

 cut in winter, when placed under precisely the same circum- 

 stances. After it is felled, it should at once be peeled, drawn 

 from the woods and elevated from the ground to facilitate 

 drying ; and if it is intended to be used under cover, the soon- 

 er it is put there the better. Wood designed for fuel, will 

 spend much better when cut as above mentioned and imedi- 

 ately housed, but as this is generally inconvenient from the 

 labor of the farm being then required for the harvesting of the 

 crops, it may be more economical to cut it whenever there is 

 most leisure. 



PRESERVATION OF TIMBER. Various preparations of late 

 years have been tried for the more effectual preservation of 

 timber, which have proved quite successful, but the expense 

 precludes their adoption for general purposes. These are 

 Kyanizing, or the use of carbureted azote, (the base of prus- 

 sic acid ;) the use of corrosive sublimate, a bi-chloride of 

 mercury ; pyrolignite of iron, formed from iron dissolved in 

 pyrolignous acid, (which is produced from the distillation of 

 of wood, or from the condensed vapor that escapes from wood 

 fuel while burning, and which may be obtained in large 

 quantities from a coal pit where charcoal is made ;) and a 

 solution of common salt. These will be absorbed by the sap 

 pores and universally disseminated through the body of the 



