THE NEW FORESTRY. 1 67 



CHAPTER XV, 

 THE BARK CROP. 



SECTION I. — STRIPPING AND DRYING. 



The bark crop is not now of nearly so much importance 

 as it once was. Larch . bark has practically gone out of 

 demand, and oak bark, though still extensively used for 

 tanning purposes, is hardly worth the harvesting for its own 

 value. Peeled oak timber, however, fetches a better price 

 than that which is not peeled, and the removal of the bark 

 reduces weight and the cost of haulage very considerably. 

 For these reasons alone purchasers still strip the bark, going 

 even to the expense, in some parts of Yorkshire, of stripping 

 the trees standing at a cost of thirty-five shillings per ton. 

 The causes of the decline in the value of oak bark are that 

 substitutes for tanning purposes are now in more common use, 

 if not by themselves, in conjunction with oak bark to accelerate 

 the process and reduce the cost, and that much good bark is 

 sent over to this country from the Continent. 



The barking season depends upon the ascent of the sap, 

 which, in its turn, depends on the weather, or rather the tem- 

 perature. The bark cannot be detached before the sap is 

 fully on the move, nor after the leaves have expanded, 

 and attention is therefore needed to catch the crop at the rigfit 

 time. Whether owing to the sudden thickening of the sap, 

 or some other cause, the work of stripping may be completely 

 arrested by a sudden change from mild to cold weather, and 

 quite frequently , in peeling standing trees one side of a tree 

 will peel when the other side will not. Neither do all the trees 

 in a lot come on at the same time, hence, when a lot is felled 

 straight off and peeled down, the mallet has to be used oftener 

 than is desirable to loosen the bark, which is best got without 

 such assistance. Stripping the bark from the trees standing 

 is probably the best way to get most bark and preserve the 

 timber, but the rule is to fell and strip afterwards. The trees 

 may be tried with the chisel while standing, and such as are 

 found to be ready should be felled and stripped forthwith, 



