XV. 
ON HARVESTING BARK. 
THE oak furnishes the bark which is most esteemed by the 
tanner in the manufacture of leather, and the birch that 
which is most in repute by the fishermen in the preservation 
of sail-cloth and cordage. The barks of the larch, chestnut, 
willow, and some other kinds, are also valued on account of 
their tanning qualities. The operation of barking or peeling, 
and the mode of preserving bark, is the same in all the kinds, 
and the value of the commodity greatly depends on the state 
of the weather and the care bestowed during the time of its 
being harvested. 
The season begins as early as the sap of the tree circulates 
so freely as to admit the bark to rise from the timber, which 
varies considerably in different trees, and is also regulated by 
the nature of the soil and situation, and by the earliness or 
lateness of the season. That first removed is found to be the 
strongest in the tannin principle, and consequently the most 
valuable. When the tree expands into full leaf and produces 
young shoots, the bark has deterioriated one half; nor is this 
the only disadvantage of late barking, for the future growths 
from stools, which form the following crop, rise but feebly 
compared to those where the timber has been removed in 
April or in May. 
In detailing the process of barking it is necessary to re- 
mark, that on old trees, and particularly on the birch, a rough 
exterior bark or epidermis commonly exists, which is of no 
value; this is removed by an axe, or more readily by an im- 
plement termed a scraper, which is shaped like a common 
draw-hoe, but is more powerful, and much sharper. It is 
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