TIMBER. 



from negleft &nd mifmanagement of their timber, are now, it n\iary, in which cafe it will be all Iieart, at lead the fap will 

 is faid, Tofing annually very handfonie incomes. The lofs of be very inconfiderable : this, he adds, is alfo the only good 



price which generally follows the refufal of a good or high 

 offer, the certain lofs of intcreft, the decay of timber, and the 

 injuries arifing from the incumbrance of full-grown trees, are 

 irretrievable loffes, which thofe who have the care and ma- 

 nagement of timber fliould ftudioufly endeavour to avoid. 

 But while the difadvantages of futfering timber to Hand until 

 it be overgrown are thus held out, it is far from proper or 

 advifeable to propofe or favour the premature felling of it. 



The feafon of the year for this work ufually commences 

 about the end of April ; becaufe the fap then rifes, which 

 makes the bark run freely, as it is technically termed ; that 

 is, iljlrips off the trees freely ; fo that where a quantity of 

 timber for ordinary ufes is to be felled, the ftatute i .lac. I. 

 c. 22. formerly required it to be done between the ill of 

 April and the laft of June, for the advantage of tanning : 

 but this aft was repealed by 48 Geo. III. 



However, the opinions and praftices of authors are very 

 different as to the belt feafon for felling timber : Vitruvins 

 recommends an autumnal fall ; others advife December and 

 January : Cato was of opinion, that trees fhould have borne 

 their fruit before felled ; at leaft, that their fruit fhould be 

 flrll ripe ; which coincides with the fentiments of Vitruvius. 

 In effeft, though timber unbarked be mofl obnoxious to 

 worms, yet we find the wild oak, and many other kinds, if 

 felled too late, when the fap begins to be full, to be very 

 fubjedl to worms ; whereas about mid-winter, it neither 

 calls, rifts, nor twines. If trees were felled at a more early 



feafon for felling alh. Some authors add farther, that in 

 felling timber, care Ihould be taken, firfl, only to cut it 

 into the heart, and fo to let it Hand till dry ; by which 

 means the moiflure is evacuated in drops, which would 

 otherwife occafion putrefadlion. 



M. de Button obferves, as a circumflance which greatly 

 increafes the flrength and folidity of timber, that the trees 

 intended to be felled for fervice, fhould firfl be flripped 

 round of their b.irk, and fuffered to Hand and die upon the 

 fpot before the cutting. The fappy part, or blea of the 

 oak, becomes by this management as hard and firm as the 

 heart, and the real flrength and dcnfity of the wood has 

 been proved by m.iny experiments to be greatly increafed 

 by it : nor is this pratlice detrimental to the proprietor, be- 

 caufe the remaining flumps of thefe trees fend up their young 

 fhoots as vigoroufly, as if they had been cut down in their 

 natural condition. Mem. de I'Acad. Sc. Par. 17^9. 



When any tree is to be cut down for timber, the firfl thing 

 to be taken care of is a fkilful dilbranching fuch limbs as may 

 injure it in its fall. In felling the tree, it fhould always be 

 cut as clofe to the ground as poffible, unlefs it is intended 

 to be grubbed up ; and this will be of advantage both to 

 the timber and the wood ; for timber is never fo much va- 

 lued, if it be known to grow out of old flocks. 



There are feveral different modes made ufe of in felling or 

 taking down timber, and they mull neceffarily be fomewhat 

 various, according to the nature, extent, and kind, of which 



feafon than April, it is faid that the timber would be better the colleftion may be, as well as in the methods of perform- 



feafoned 



It is, indeed, the common opinion, that timber which 

 is felled in winter, is flronger, and more falling, as being 

 more firm and clofe, than that which is felled in fummer. 

 But M. Leeuwenhoeck apprehends that there is no differ- 

 ence, except in the bark, and outermofl ring of the wood, 

 which in the fummer are fofter, and more eafily pierced by 

 the worm : wood conllfling of hollow pipes, which, both 

 in fummer and winter, are full of moiflure, and do not fhrink 

 in winter ; and therefore the wood cannot be clofer at one 

 time than another, for if otherwife, it would be full of cracks 

 and clefts. The unexpefted and fudden rotting of fome 

 timber, he conceives to proceed from fome inward decay in 

 the tree before it was felled : having obferved all trees to be- 

 gin to decay at firfl in the midft or heart of the tree. Phil. 

 Tranf. N^ 213. or Abr. vol. i. p. 592. 



The ancients had a great regard to the age of the moon 

 in the felling of their timber. If their rules avail aua;ht, 

 they are thefe : fell timber in the wane, or four days after 

 new moon ; fome fay, let it be the lafl quarter. Phny 

 orders it to be in the very article of the change, which hap- 

 pening on the lafl day of the winter folftice, the timber, fays 

 he, will be immort.al : Columella fays, from the twentieth 

 to the twenty-eighth day : Cato, four days after the full : 

 .Vegetius, from, the fifteenth to the twenty-fifth, for fhip- 

 timber ; but never in the increafe, trees then mofl abound- 

 ing with moiflure, the only fource of putrefaftion. 



Some even have a regard to the temper and time of the 

 day ; the wind to be low, neither eafl nor wefl, neither in 

 frofl, wet, nor dewy weather, and finally, never in the fore- 

 noon. 



Laflly, fome regard is had to the fpecies : fir is bell felled 

 when it begins to Ipring, both as it then quits its coat beft, 

 and as the wood, according to Theophraflus, is by that 

 means rendered wonderfully durable in water. Elm, fays 

 Mr. Worlidge, is to be felled between November and Jar 



ing the work : thus, in groves of the deciduous timber kind, 

 the trees are moflly bell felled by gradually taking or 

 thinning them out as they arrive at maturity ; which, wliere 

 they are to be continued, Ihould be cut over by the furface 

 of the ground, and the flools be each feparately well fenced 

 in, that by defending them from cattle, new trees may be 

 produced ; but when not defigned to be continued, they 

 may at once be rooted out. Groves of the fir or pme fort, 

 or any fingle fir-tree of any kind, fhould at once be taken 

 out by the roots. In woods, any timber-trees that may be 

 cut down, fhould have their places as nearly as poffible fup- 

 pliedby fapphngs, or any other proper forts of young timber- 

 trees. However, previous to the work of fcUing, the trees 

 fhould be marked by a proper perfon ; in performing which, 

 in a fall of timber, regard is to be had to the relative flate of 

 flanding in the trees. In clofe timber-woods, the whole or 

 nearly the whole may be marked and taken down ; as if 

 fome which appear flourifhing be left flanding, they will not 

 only be liable and in danger of being hurt in taking the 

 others down ; but, in confequence of their fituation in regard 

 to expofure being changed, will no longer continue to 

 flourifh. As their atmofphere is not only thus altered, and 

 rendered too cool, perhaps, for their acquired habit, by the 

 removal of the adjoining trees ; but they thereby get room 

 to throw out fide-fhoots from their flems ; in confequence of 

 which their tops die, and their growth is irrevocably Hinted. 

 While, on the contrary, in open woods of the fame kind, 

 thin hedge -rows, and other open fpaces, fuch timber-trees 

 only as are ripe for the axe, or arc fuitable for the intended 

 pnrpofe, fliould be marked : the youthful growing trees 

 being left to be benefited mofl probably by an increafe of 

 air and head room, in an atmofpliere and expofure to which 

 they are habituated and accullomed. On eflates that are 

 timbered, it is dircded that they fhould he frequently gone 

 over by proper ptcfons, who, let the price and demand for 

 timber be whal lliey may, fliould mark cvPry tree which 



wears 



