TIMBER. 



k: 



of thcfe ftatements mav alfo be met w.t . in NL«ton s Vi 

 truv » wl>ic1i wc have not room to admit m this place. 



T MBEr X ./-M. Cr».wA «/, the limit to tlie growth and 

 incXro wifdt, trees of this fort. It has been remarked 

 b, a late ,vriter, that from the old alburnum of fuch tre s 

 beinc cradually converted into heart-wood, and being con- 

 dn Slfprefl-ed upon by the expanfive force of the new 

 fibS it becomes harderi denfer, and at length lofes altoge- 

 ther its vafcular ftrudure ; and in a certain time obeying the 

 common laws of dead matter, decays, decompofes, and is 

 converted into aeriform and carbonic elements ; into thole 

 principles from which it was originally formed. 1 he decay 

 of the heart-wood ^^■c■uld confequently feem to conftitute the 

 rreat limit to the age and fize of timber or trees ot that 

 Kind. This is more liable to take place in fome cafes than 

 in others. The age of growth in timber-trees is, however, 

 moftly afcertained by the rings or layers of which they are 



formed. , r ■ i ^i 



In regard to the age of the growth of the oak, the 

 writer of the rural economy of the midland counties has 

 remarked, that there has been lately a fall of timber in the 

 woods there, including fome large timber-trees. That he 

 counted the rings of one which was found at the butt : the 

 number, as nearly as he could afcertain it, was two hundred. 

 But thofe of the laft forty or fifty years' growth were fo thin, he 

 could not count them with certainty ; though with fufficient 

 accuracy upon which to ground the calculations given below. 

 The girt of this tree, in the girting place, was nine feet, 

 the diameter of which was foraething more than thirty- 

 four inches. And the eftim.ited growth, in this part, was 

 thirty inches diameter during the firft hundred and fifty 

 years, and four inches (two inches thick) in the laft fifty 

 years. The length of the ftem was twenty-two feet. The 

 contents of the whole were one hundred and ten feet of timber. 

 Thofe of the firft. hundred and fifty years' growth, eighty- 

 five feet ; leaving twenty -five feet for the growth of the laft 

 fifty years. It is therefore obferved, that altliough the in- 

 creafe of diameter had been comparatively fmall during the 

 laft fifty years, the increafe of timber had been nearly as 

 great as in the firft ftages. 



But fuppofing, it is faid, that this tree had been taken 

 down at one hundred and fifty years old, it would, at 2s. 

 a foot, have produced 8/. lOs., the intereft of which would 

 have amounted, in the courfe of fifty years, to more than 

 2o/. ; befide the ufe of the land during that time : whereas 

 the tree, at that rate, is now worth only 1 1/. Thefe calcu- 

 lations and inferences are not, however, it is faid, intended 

 to excite a fpirit of felling timber prematurely, or at too 

 early an age, a fpirit which is already too prevalent ; but 

 to endeavour to decide on the moft proper age of growth for 

 its being cut down ; it being an incontrovertible faft, that, 

 in point of utility, public and private, the fault of fuffering 

 timber to ftand to too great an age, is infinitely greater than 

 that of cutting it down before it has attained its full 

 growth or age. In the latter cafe, it is faid, there is no 

 wafte ; the intereft of money, and the fucceeding ftioots, or 

 the ufe of the land, ftand againft the lofs of growth of tim- 

 ber. But, in tlie former, the principal, intereft, after- 

 ftioot, and the ufe of the land, are all thrown away : fo that 

 the community, as well as the proprietors, are lofers by the 

 management. In the one cafe, cutting part before it be fit, 

 may lave other trees which are more fully grown ; but, in 

 the other, the whole ia loft. Leaving, it is faid, the pre- 



fervation and management of fhip-timber to thofe to whoni 

 it properly belongs, it does not follow that, becaufe it is 

 wrong to fnff"er timber to ftand to wafte, it is right to take 

 it down before it be of a proper age, or fufficiently grown, 

 for the purpofe of ftiip-building. It is not over-grown, bu. 

 ftout-growing timber which is fit for that ufe. Timber is 

 feldom cut down prematurely, or at too early an age, but 

 by the neceflitous ; or by thofe who have only a temporary 

 pod'effioii ill their refpcftive eftates. And what argument, 

 it is a(l<ed, can prevail with this clafs of proprietors ? 

 Another clafs, and it is trufted by much the largeft, is com- 

 pofed of thofe who, confidering their timber merely as a 

 profitable part of their feveral eftates, take it down when- 

 ever it becomes /«//-grown, and a fair opportunity offers. 

 And a third clafs of this fort of proprietors confifts of 

 thofe who, through falfe pride, falfe fear, or falfe economy, 

 fuff'er their timber to ftand until it be over-grown : and 

 if the writer have any other motive for making known the 

 above minutes on the ages of timber-trees, than that of re- 

 cording fafts, it is the defire of placing in its proper hght, 

 the improvident management of this clafs of timber pro- 

 prietors ; and, at the fame time, to endeavour to form juft 

 ideas of a fubjeft, which has not, hitherto, been brought 

 before the public ; but which is pre-eminently entitled to 

 public notice and difcufliion. 



It is additionally ftated, that this matter having been ren- 

 dered, in a confiderable degree, faniihar to the writer by 

 many years' obfervation and praftice, he may here fct dowa 

 wliat appears to him the proper ages of growth for cutting 

 down the four following fpecies or forts of timber. 



1. Poplar, from thirty to fifty years old. 



2. Elm, from fifty to a hundred. 



3. Afli, from fifty to a hundred. 



4. Oak, from one to two hundred. 



But it is faid that it very much depends on fituation, 

 and on the foil and fubfoil in which timber-trees are rooted. 

 On dry abforbent foils, the oak and the elm, at leaft, are 

 obferved to go off much fooner than in cooler more reten- 

 tive fituations. And in a wood, on a dry loam, with a 

 rocky fubfoil, the oak was found going faft to decay at 

 two hundred years old ; while in another, in a cooler fituation, 

 it was found, but unprofitable, at that age ; and in a third, 

 perhaps a ftill cooler fpot, it was found, profitable, and wear- 

 ing every appearance of being in a fit ftate of growth for 

 being taken down at the age of a hundred and fifty years. 

 Thefe three woods were thofe of Merevale, Bagot-park, 

 and Statfold, in the midland diftrifts of this country. 



A full knowledge of the age of growth in timber-trees 

 is a matter of great utility and advantage to the proprietors 

 of wooded lands. 



TiMBEK, Marking of, the putting of fuch marks upon 

 timber-trees, or large falls of timber, as may be neceflary to 

 diftinguifti them in felling, and which are of 3 proper age and 

 growth for being taken down. It is ufually performed by 

 means of an inftrument of the compalTes kind, by which a 

 circle, with a number, or fome other particular fort of mark, 

 is formed on the ti'ee. It is of great ufe and advantage in 

 felling and dlfpofing of timber, to have this bufinefs exe- 

 cuted in a careful and judicious manner. See Timber. 



Timber, Meafur'mg of. See Mensuration and Slid- 

 iXG-i?u/c 



For finding the area of a board or plank, the rule is fimple 

 and eafy ; which is that of multiplying the length by the 

 mean breadth. If the board is tapering, the breadths at the 

 two ends (hould be added together, and half the fum will be 

 the mean breadth. The method by the fliding-rule is too 

 obvious to need being mentioned. 



Timber- 



