WOODS AND PLANTATIONS. 449 



One set of men proceeds with the cutting down of the trees, and 

 another set removes the branches and tops with axes and hand-bills, 

 leaving them just as they are removed from the tree, while boys strip 

 them of the smaller branches. All the branches down to a size 

 of one inch in diameter are thrown into heaps. The small trees 

 and brushwood are removed to the road by men, and the larger 

 trees are dragged to the road by horses, where they are stripped 

 by men, women, or boys, according to the custom of the district. 



The implement used in stripping is shown in fig. 128. This 

 is inserted between the bark and the timber of the tree, and the 

 bark is torn off. When the sap is well up in the tree, the bark 

 comes easily off, especially in England ; but in Scotland, where 

 the climate is somewhat colder, it often requires to be beaten 

 with a wooden mallet in order to start it from the timber. These 

 wooden mallets are made as represented in fig. 129. They are about 

 four inches square on the flat part, as shown at a, which is used in 

 beating the bark, and about six inches deep to 

 the high part at I. The head should be made 

 of ash, and the handle of good tough timber. A 

 hardwood handle is not so easy to the hand as 

 one made of tough pine timber. The peeling- 

 iron, as represented, should be made about two 

 and a half inches square, with a hose four inches long, to hold a 

 wooden handle about six or seven inches long. This wooden handle 

 should also be made of foreign pine timber. 



In Scotland, as stated, it is generally necessary to beat the bark before 

 it can be easily removed; but in the southern and midland counties 

 of England this is not the case. It is much better to avoid beating 

 if possible, as the effect of that process is to press out the tannin of 

 the bark, and thus the bark is injured. With the very small branches 

 it is necessary to beat them to get the bark removed, as they FlQ 130 

 are so small that the peeling-iron cannot be used upon them -, ^ 

 with any advantage ; we therefore lay a small bough on a flat y*/ 

 stone, or on the stem of the tree which has been felled, and beat 

 it in a line from one end to the other, when the bark can easily 

 be removed by the hand. 



The next operation is to have the bark laid in such a position 

 as will enable it to dry ; this we do by erecting stages for the 

 purpose. First of all, we procure a number of forked stakes 

 from amongst the peeled branches, of a size of aboiit two and a i 

 half inches in diameter, and about three feet long. These stakes are 

 shown in fig. 130. They are driven into the ground in two rows, one 



2 F 



