128 farmers' and mechanics' jOurnaI-. 



2d. The seasoning of oak timber appears to me to be egregious- 

 ly wrong, and attended with great labor and waste of time ; I shall 

 in this instance more particularj allude to the King's yards, as be- 

 ing on a large scale, and presenting more cases in point. When 

 oak timber is received at any ot them, it is generally in a seeded 

 state, (except what comes from the King's forests,) and is stacked 

 in large quantities till wanted for use. Now, I cannot see any rea- 

 son why the greatest part of it should not be converted into tim- 

 bers, beams, &;c. in the forest, which would not only be a saving 

 in land and water-carriage, &:c., but when the timbers were put in 

 frame, they would be better seasoned than by the present method. 

 There is also one thing I would wish to remark here, though not 

 connected with the dry-rot, yet deserving of notice. That as many 

 a piece of valuable compass timber is spoiled for particular pur- 

 poses, by taking oiTso much in the siding of the piece, as will give 

 the plane equal to the siding, with l-8th added thereto : now if a 

 converter was on the spot, he might save many a piece of timber 

 of this kind, by having it sided down to what he wants, and not to 

 what the contract obliges the contractor to do. This plan of con- 

 verting in the forests has been followed by the French ; and it 

 seems to be founded in reason, that there is no occasion for drag- 

 ging about ofFal timber at a great expense of carriage, &lc., and 

 which offal wood might be sold in the forests when the season was 

 over. If, in objection to this plan, it should be urged, that a mould 

 loft cannot be carried to every forest, let all the straight work be 

 cut there, the scantlings of which might be carried in the pocket. 

 Were only this to be done, there would be a great saving, and the 

 timber better seasoned. JNauticus. 



Col. Pickering, in an essay on the " Felling of Trees for Tim- 

 ber," (published in the New- England Farmer, vol. i. p. 17,) says, 

 '' in the year 1800, divested of public employment, and about to 

 commence husbandman, I made a visit to the late Joseph Cooper, 

 of New-Jersey, one of the most intelligent farmers I ever knew, to 

 converse with him on the subject of his vocation. Among other 

 things he spoke of timber, and stated the following facts : His 

 farm lying on the Delaware river, nearly opposite Philadelphia, 

 was exposed to the ravages of the British army while occupying^ 

 that city. Pressed for fuel, his fences first fell a prey to their 

 necessities. In the month of May, 1778, they cut down a quantity 

 of his white oak trees ; but circumstances requiring their sudden 

 evacuation of the city, his fallen timber was saved. The trees he 

 split into posts and rails to carry on his fencing, ft is now, said 

 he, two-and-twenty years since the fences made of the May felled 

 timber were put up, and they are yet sound ; whereas those of trees 

 felled in February, were rotten in about twelve years. He theri„ 

 pronounced confidently, that the best time for felling timber ireesy 

 for durahilitij, rvas when their sap was vigorously/ fowing. He said 

 also, that white oak and hickory trees felled at that season, would 

 not be attacked by the worms, producing what is called ' powder 

 post.' And added, that hoop-poles of oak and hickory, ought, for 



