Bram.—On the Building Materials of Otago. 137 
when there is least sap in the tree, the time itself is not decided. One 
party argues that as vegetation is suspended during winter, there must be 
little sap in the timber. But the other maintains that midsummer is the 
best season for felling, as all the juices that rise in spring are then expended 
in forming leaves. With deciduous trees, and in a cold climate, the chances 
are greatly in favour of winter felling, but, with evergreens and in a warm 
climate, there seems little choice between summer and winter. Of course 
there is a very marked difference in the quality of timber felled in winter and 
spring, and in summer and autumn. Experiments made in Germany to settle 
this point gave the following results. Timber cut in December was impervious 
to water end-wise ; in January, a few drops percolated through in 48 hours; 
in February, two quarts went through in that time; and the March cut 
timber allowed two quarts to run through in two and a half hours. It is to 
be regretted that these experiments were not carried over the whole year, 
as the result would go a long way towards deciding the relative merits of 
winter and summer felling. Notwithstanding the fact that spring is 
admitted on all sides to be the worst season of the year for felling timber, 
it is the one in which the ** indestruetable'' English oak is cut; this is in 
consequence of the bark, which is used for tanning, being more valuable 
when the sap is rising. Summer is considered the best time for cutting 
alder and beech in England; it is also the season in which oak is felled in 
Italy and pines in Germany. 
The ancients believed that the moon had a ripening influence on timber, 
consequently it was felled during her last quarter. The same belief was 
embodied in the Code Napoleon, and prevails to this day in the forests of 
Germany and Central America. It has a commercial significance in the 
latter place, for mahogany that is guaranteed to have been cut during the 
proper phase of the moon commands a higher price than any other. This 
lunar influence is probably quite imaginary, but when we consider the effect 
of the planets’ attraction on the ocean, it is not unreasonable to suppose 
that vegetable juices may be attracted in a similar manner, at the same 
time we would expect a manifestation twice a month, as in the tides, 
instead of once only. 
: Qualities of Timber.—The chief attributes of good timber are—a mini- 
mum amount of sapwood, compactness of texture, and depth of colour 
where colour exists. ^ The proportion of sap-wood varies in trees of different 
ages and kinds—chestnut, fifteen and half inches in diameter, has three- 
eighths of an inch of sap all round ; oak, seventeen inches diameter, has 
one and quarter inch of sap; and Scotch fir, twenty-four inches diameter, 
two and half inches of sap. The ordinary defects in growing timber are 
the shakes, or cracks and hollows that appear in the heart of full grown and 
R 
