TIMBER. 



loil ; fince it is certain, that trees grow to their pcrfcftion 

 at very different periods of time, in proportion to the depth 

 of foil ihey have to grow in ; and that as it is, on the one 

 hand, not for the intercll of the ftate to fuffer trees to be 

 cut till at their perfeflion for fizc and foundnefs, fo after 

 they are arrived at their perfcaion, it is equally certain that 

 they gradually decay. 



The quality of the foil the tree (lands in may be nccellary 

 to be obferved to this purpofe ; but the quantity or depth 

 of it is the great fubjedt of enquiry ; and a great number 

 of obfervations has proved, that the proper feafon for cut- 

 ting oaks, in a foil of two feet and a half deep, is at fifty 

 years old ; thofe which (land in a foil of three feet and a 

 half deep, fhould not be cut down before feventy years ; 

 and thofe which (land in a foil of four feet and a half deep, 

 or more than that, will increafe in goodnefs and in fr/.e 

 till they are a hundred years old ; and obfervation has 

 proved, that after thefe feveral periods, the trees begin to 

 decay. 



This feems the bed rule to edablifli, in regard to the 

 common foils ; but thofe which grow in a lighter or more 

 fandy foil, may have their periods changed from thefe to 

 forty, to fixty, and to eighty years at the greateft depth ; 

 and after thefe times it is always bell to fell the wood meant 

 for public fcrvice, whether then wanted or not, fince it is 

 much better to keep it in public magazines, than to leave it 

 to be daily decaying. 



Heaths, and other uncultivated places, where there is no 

 regular growth of wood, but where fern and ufelefs plants 

 alone fecm to flouritli, ufually a(rord alfo fome draggling 

 trees of the oak. Thefe probably have had their origin 

 from acorns dropped by birds ; but they feldom grow tall 

 or regular ; lince, not having been defended from the in- 

 juries of cattle, they are ufually browfed on, and dunted 

 while young, and fo become crooked and fhort-trunked, 

 or poUard-trees. Thefe, though not of fuch value as the 

 more regular oaks, yet deferve care, both with refpeft to 

 their prefervation and felling ; lince they afford a number of 

 trees naturally bent, and formed for many parts of (hip- 

 building. 



The little care ufually taken of thefe trees, though on 



this occafion of great value, feems to threaten a general lofs 



of them ; but as trees, thus naturally crooked and bent, 



are of value, it is a laudable attempt to try at the finding 



of a regular method of producing fuch ; and this is eafily 



prafticable, by following the fame methods by which thefe 



wild ones become fo. They wholly owe their figure to the 



cattle's biting off their tops while young, and afterwards 



biting off again the tops of the (hoots from the fird wound. 



In this manner, if a number of young trees, fet apart for 



the experiment, have their tops cut off at two, four, fix, 



eight, ten, and twelve feet from the ground, and four years 



afterwards the (hoots from thefe Hunted tops are again cut 



in the fame manner, the trees will be found afterwards to 



grow up in aH the irregularly crooked figures that can be 



conceived, and by this means a fupply of naturally crooked 



wood may be raifed for all the occafions of (hip-building, 



with infinitely greater eafe, and more certainty, than by the 



method propoled by fome, of bending them down with 



■weights tied to their tops while young. See Growth of 



Crooked Timbek. 



As to the fupply of young wood in the place of what is 

 cut down, there are fome circumdances vijihich have not had 

 the attention paid to them which they deferve. The fpring 

 frods, which come on at a tinie when the ftioots, by which 

 nature is to raife the fupply for what is cut down, are juft 



preparing to grow, are of prodigious injury, and do not 

 lefs mifchief to thefe than to the young Ihoots of garden 

 plants, though the dillant hope of the fucceffion of the pro- 

 prietor, and ufually alfo the didance of the place, and want 

 of repeated obfervations, occafion its not being perceived. 

 This, however, may in a great meafure be guarded againd. 

 Frequent experiments and repeated obfervations prove, that 

 thi- mifchief done by thefu frods afieft in a much greater 

 degree thofe (hoots which are expofod to the fouth, than 

 thofe which face the north : and that it is greatly more 

 powerful againd fuch as are wholly expofed to the wind, 

 than againll fuch as are (lieltered. Thefe known circum- 

 dances may give the hint to a metliod of faving, at lead, a 

 great part of the wood to be felled from this dedruftion, to 

 its renewal, by the making it a rule to begin cutting down 

 on the north fide ; and, as the whole felling is a work of 

 fome years, the danding wood of every feafon will defend 

 the young (hoots of the newly-cut dumps the following 

 fpring, not only from the fouth expofure, but will (helter 

 them alfo from the wind. 



Many prudent managers have made fine edates of their 

 coppice-woods, by regularly felling a certain portion every 

 year, and providing for a renewal of the fird cutting, againll 

 the felling of the lad portion, by proportioning the time of 

 growth to the quantity to be cut every year ; and there is 

 great intered to be made of a true knowledge of the growth 

 of wood in this manner. Whoever obferves the growth of 

 young trees, will find that the fecond year's growth is much 

 more confiderable than that of the fird ; the third year is 

 more than that of the fecond, and fo on for many years ; ths 

 yearly growths of young wood greatly increafing every fea- 

 fon up to a certain time or age of the tree, after which the 

 increafe in bulk, by growth, becomes gradually lefs. The 



freat advantage to be made of coppice-wood, would be by 

 nowing this intereding period, and feizing on it, always to 

 cut down the trees jud at that time when they arrived at the 

 end of their quick growth, and fo fetting nature to work 

 with new (hoots, to employ the fame on enriching again the 

 owner. Regular obfervation and experiment alone can afcer- 

 tain this happy period ; but any man who has much coppice- 

 wood upon his edate, may afTure himfelf of it, by cutting a 

 given quantity every year, for ten years fucceffively, and 

 then carefully reviewing the differences of the yearly pro- 

 duce. Memoirs Acad. Scienc. Ann. 1739. 



On the bufinefs of raifing and growing good timber, or 

 trees of that fort, Mr. Loudon has thrown out fome inter- 

 eding, ingenious, and philofophical hints and fuggedions, as 

 well as dated fome drong fails in confirmation of them, in 

 his work on forming and improving country refidences. 

 It is confidered as remarkable, that the matter has never 

 particularly engaged the attention of thofe who have been 

 employed in defcribing the methods of rearing trees. The 

 elFefts of culture on other vegetables is fo great, it is faid, 

 as always to change their appearance, and not unfrequently 

 to alter, in a confiderable degree, their nature. The com- 

 mon culinary vegetables, and cultivated gralfes, alTume fo 

 different an appearance in our fields and gardens from what 

 they do in a d,ate of wild nature, that even a perfon accuf- 

 tomed to the nature of plants might eafily be deceived in 

 regard to the fpecies or kind. The fame general laws oper- 

 ate upon the whole kingdom of vegetables ; and thence it 

 is thought plain, that the effefts of culture upon trees, 

 though different in degree, mud be analogous in their nature. 

 It is true, it is faid, that as yet we are poIfelTed of no great 

 number of either experiments or obfervations, to enabfe 

 us to determine with minute accuracy the precife extent 



of 



