358 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



ilAVaO, 1835. 



^^W 3S5it#5L^Sr3l> J?^2li2SffilSm« 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MAY 20, 1835. 



PAJRMER'S "WORK FOR MAY. 



Felling Timber, Moon's Infldence, <kc. — Perhaps 

 there is no subject of equal practical importance in which 

 all concerned, (to wit, all who build or reside in wooden 

 houses, fabricate or have any use for ships, barns, sheds, 

 wooden implements, &c. &c.,) are more divided than 

 relative to the best season of the year for felling timber, 

 with reference to its durability, its reproduction, its 

 value for fire wood, &c. Writers, on these topics, for 

 the New England Farmer, and other publications have 

 been numerous, and eminent; still the facts appear to be 

 contradictory, and the theories unsatisfactory.* Some 

 recommend felling trees in February, when there is the 

 least sap in the tree, some prefer May or June, when the 

 tree is full of sap, and others recommend September 

 when the vessels of the alburnum or white wood are not 

 replete with the sap or juices of the tree,containinglhose 

 saccharine, acid and mucilaginous matters, which fer- 

 ment and destroy the texture of the ligneous fibres. 



It appears to us that notwithstanding the doubts and 

 disputes which envelope this important subject it is pos- 

 sible in a great measure to reconcile the facts, which 

 appear to be contradictory and to show that they are not 

 incompatible with the theory, which we are about to 

 advance. There can be no decay, or rottenness in wood 

 without fermentation, and there can be no fermentation 

 without moisture. Pure water will promote fermenta- 

 tion, which is the first step towards rottenness, and far- 

 mers have sometimes watered manure heaps to reduce 

 them the sooner to what they call short muck. The 

 sap or juice of green trees is still more favorable to fer- 

 mentation than pure water, just as the juice of an apple 

 will ferment sooner than water. To secure against that 

 fermentation, which is preliminary, or as lawyers phrase 

 it, inchoative to the deconjposilion or destruction of the 

 woody fibre, you must either cut the tree when most 

 destitute of sap, or lake methods to extricate or expel 

 the sap as speedily as possible. In the winter season 

 most of the sap has been expended in the formation and 

 perspiration of leaves, and in adding to the growth of 

 the tree. There will, however, be a considerable por- 

 tion of moisture remain, which being of a viscous, or 

 mucilaginous nature is not easily elicited or expelled. 

 This must be got rid of by what is balled seasoning the 

 timber, or it will soon cause decay; and it is more difficult 

 to expel the sap from wood cut in winter, than from that 

 cut in spring or summer, because in the former case tbe 

 pores of the wood are less open, and the sap more thick 

 and mucilaginous than in the latter. It was remarked by 

 Col. Pickering that " no one can doubt that dryness is 

 favorable and moisture unfavorable to the durability' of 

 timber, and in winter the sap of trees is probably in- 

 spissated to a considerable degree : but no living* tree is 

 then devoid of sap. The important question, therefore, 

 in relation to felling timber trees, is, I am inclined to 

 think, not simply w/icn trees have the smallest quantity 

 of sap : but at what season the sap they contain will most 

 easily escape or be expelled." 



Again, the same sagacious observer remarks that 

 " accident threw in my way the late Oliver Evans' book 

 on the construction of mills; to which was subjoined a 

 treatise of a Mr EUicot a millwright, on the same sub- 

 ject. Turning over some of the leaves of this treatise 

 I lighted on the passage in which the author directed 



* See Col. HoEeley's .Address, page 32] of the current volume of 

 tbe New England Farmer. 



hickory timber intended for the cogs of wheels, to be cut 

 when the sap itas runnings that they might not become pow- 

 der post. In the following winter, being in Boston, and 

 conversing with a friend from the country, on subjects 

 of husbandry, he mentioned a farmer, the well-pole (or 

 sweep) of whose well happened to break at a very busy 

 time; that to supply its place he cut down the first tree 

 that came to hand : and this was a white birch. The 

 sap then running freely, he stripped off the bark, and 

 put up the pole ; and it lasted seventeen years. Had he 

 put it up with the bark on, it would probably have rotted 

 in one year ; the closeness of the birch bark preretiting the 

 escape of the sap. A close coat of paint, laid on un- 

 seasoned wood operates like theelose birch bark, by con- 

 fining the sap, and hastening its decay." » * * 



" But why should timber trees be felled in May or 

 when the sap is freely running, as in the case stated 

 by Joseph Cooper, or barked and left standing until 

 dry, according to Buffon, be more durable than timber 

 felled according to the prevailing and popular no- 

 lion of the old of the moon in February ? For an 

 answer I offer the following conjecture. — The thinner 

 and more fluid any body is, the sooner and more perfectly 

 it will evaporate. The sap of trees is doubtless more 

 inspissated, or of thicker consistence in winter than in 

 spring, when it is apparently thin and watery. In the 

 latter state it will find its way, and escape through the 

 pores of the wood with vastly greater ease and expedi- 

 tion than when in winter it is much inspissated. Molasses 

 condensed by the winter's cold, runs very slowly 

 through tubes of a large size. In summer the same 

 molasses, swelling lo a large volume, and becoming very 

 thin, will pass through very small tubes, and I believe 

 through the pores of some wood. The same substance 

 (molasses,) exposed, in a small quantity, to the hot sun 

 of summer, would soon discharge its more fluid parts, 

 and at length leave us, I suppose, a solid substance be- 

 hind, but if much diluted with water, would not the 

 whole substance be nearly, if not quite carried off' by 

 evaporation .■" the same reasoning may be applied to trees 

 left standing after being divested of their bark in the 

 spring. 



ITo be continued 1 



Wash for Fruit Trees. — A friend and patron of 

 our paper, wishes us to inform him what is the most im- 

 proved wash for fruit trees, and says, " If I remember 

 right there has been an improvement on Forsyth's com- 

 position." The following was, some years since recom- 

 mended by Mr Benjamin Wheeler of Framingliam, Mass. 



" Dissolve two pounds of. potash of the first quality, in 

 7 quarts of water for the bodies of the trees. If the 

 limbs are covered with moss or lice, I take a painter's 

 brush and apply the solution to the moss &c. with care 

 not to touch the leaves or buds, it may be done at any 

 lime of the year when we are most at leisure. Once in 

 two to four years is generally sufficient. I have no .gen- 

 eral rule, however, but wash them as often as they appear 

 to need it, which is always when Ihe bark is not smooth. 



" No person need be afraid" Mr W. cortlinues, " of this 

 application's injuring fruit trees, but it may be applied 

 with the utmost confidence. I have used it for nearly 

 twenty yeais with great cff'ect. The reason it has not 

 been more generally used is that it has beera fashionable 

 to daub the trees with lime, clay, manure and other 

 compositions, which take two or three years to wash off" 

 before the tree will look natural. When this solution of 

 potash is applied it has the desired eff'ect immediately. It 

 kills the moss and lice at once, and the first rain that 

 comes washes the bark perfectly smooth, and gives it a 

 fair, natural and healthy color." 



We have received requests for information relative tO' 

 the subject of the following article, which we republish 

 from the Boston Horticdltdral RfeoisTER, vol. i. p. 34. 

 On a new method of writing on zinc, for labeling plants. 

 — The following, from Paxton's Horticultural Register, 

 will prove useful to Gardeners : — Mr Henry Braconnot, 

 the celebrated French Chemist of Nancy, to whom we 

 are indebted for the curious transformation of rags and 

 other similar vegetable substances into starch, gum, and 

 sugar, by the agency of the Oil of Vitriol, and whose 

 name is well known in the chemical world for various, 

 researches connected with the analysis of vegetable sub- 

 stances, has given in the last number of the Annales de 

 Chimie et de Physique, a preparation for writing on 

 plates of zinc to label plants. The writer, having a 

 dislike to, painting in oil, which is often inconvenient, 

 and never endures a long time, resolved to turn his at- 

 tenlion lo some other way which would prove botli 

 ready and durable. The system of writing on zinc wiiu 

 a black crayon, which was accidentally discovered by 

 M. Symon, an Amateur at Brussels, and noticed in the 

 Revue horticole for October, 1832, and the Bon Jardiniir 

 for 1833, possessing many imperfections, Mr Braconnot 

 to try some experiment, being anxious to obtain a liquid, 

 or a species of ink, which would be perfectly durable 

 when exposed lo the changeablenessof the weather, and 

 also one with which he could write with ease. This end, 

 after several proofs he is induced to believe he has in a 

 great measure attained. If it answers, he will have done 

 both the botanists and amateurs a real service. The 

 preparation is as follows ; 



Take Verdigris in powder one part, 

 Salamoniac in powder one part. 

 Lamp black (Mori de Fumeaj half a part, 

 Water ten parts ; 

 Mix these in a glass or pot mortar, at first only adding 

 as much water as will mix it well, then add the remain- 

 der of the water, when placed in a vessel let it be well 

 shaken up from time to time, and in a few days it will be 

 ready for use. Tliis is not only excellent for labelling 

 plants, but also for marking objects it is wished to pre- 

 serve in low, wet situations, and for marking keys, be- 

 coming quickly dry and being very durable. 



Temperance on Rail-roads. — In building the three 

 ■Rail-roads from Boston to Providence, Worcester, and 

 Lowell, total abstinence has been the rule with regard 

 to the use of ardent'spirits ; and it is now the rule for 

 all those who manage the engines and cars on the roads. 

 In building the roads some of the contractors from the 

 first refused to furnish their men with spirit, or permit 

 them to bring it on the ground. It was soon perceived 

 that those contractors avoided all difficulty with their 

 men ; that their men did more work ; and that although 

 most of the laborers were Irish, the territories of the 

 temperance contractors were so much more comfortable, 

 that they were most popular, and could always select 

 the best hands. The Board of Directors became so ful- 

 ly convinced of the advantages of temperance, that 

 they jnake it a condition with the contractors that they 

 should give the men no intoxicating liquor. Coffee 

 and tea were substituted, and cold water. 



On all these roads perfect order and decorum have 

 been preserved. Not even the civil authorities have 

 been called on to preserve the peace. On other roads 

 wliere the same description of laborers have been em- 

 ployed, there have been repeated murders, endless 

 ficrhts, often with deadly weapons, and the whole terri- 

 tory around has been rendered insecure. The civil 

 authorities have been set at defiance. The military 

 forces, after being harassed by marchings and watch- 

 ings, have been unable to restore order, and nothing 

 short of the potent finger of a Catholic priest held up 

 before the men, has been sufficient to restrain their in- 

 furiated passions. We have no doubt that the differ, 

 ence between the peacefulness of the East and the riots 

 of the South, is to be attributed chiefly to the diff'erenca 

 in the use of intoxicating liquor. — Jour, of Com. 



