Book III. 



PREPARING TREES FOR USE OR SALE. 



969 



wheel spokes, from twenty-six to twenty-eight inches long, four inches broad by two inches thick. 

 These are the sizes they require to stand when rough-blocked from the axe. Small wood when sold 

 for this purpose, brought, in 1820, 2s. a cubic foot, measured down to three inches square." {Monteath.) 



6948. In some cases copse-woods are sown with grasS'Seeds, and pastured by sheep, horses, and cattle. 

 Some admit the animals the fifth year after the last cutting, others not till the eighth : but Monteath 

 thinks this should never be done till the fifteenth year. If the ground is properly covered with trees, it 

 can seldom be advantageous to admit any species of stock unless during a month or two in winter. 



6949. In the operation of barking trees, "the barkers are each furnished with light 

 short-handled mallets, made of hard wood, about eight or nine inches long, three inches 

 square at the face, and the oflier end sharpened like a wedge, in order the more easily 

 to make an incision in the bark, which is done all along the side of the tree which hap- 

 pens to be uppermost, in a straight line : and as two barkers are generally employed at 

 one tree, it is proper, that whilst the one is employed in making an incision with the 

 mallet, as above, the other being furnished with the barking-bill {Jig. 140.), cuts the bark 

 across the tree, in lengths of from two feet six inches to three feet. Having thus made 

 the incision in the bark, both ways, the barkers being also each furnished with peeling- 

 irons {figs. 136. to 139.), if the tree or piece of timber to be barked is such as the two 

 barkers can easily lift one end of it, this is placed on two pieces of wood, three feet long, 

 and called horses ; these are about the thickness of a paling-stake, and have a forked end 

 on each about six inches long, the other end sharpened to go into the ground ; two of 

 these horses are placed in a triangular form against one another, one end of the piece to 

 be peeled being raised on the horses, the two barkers standing opposite to each other, and 

 entering the peeling -irons into the incision made by the mallet, and pressing the iron 

 downwards between the bark and the timber. In this way it will be found very easy to 

 take the bark off in one whole piece round the tree ; and, if possible, let these pieces be as 

 long as the incisions made in the bark. In some cases, where there is not much sap, 

 the bark may require a little beating with the square end of the mallet, to cause it to 

 separate easily from the wood ; but the less beating with the mallet the better, as it has a 

 tendency to blacken the bark in the inside, or fleshy part of it, so that when the tanner 

 sees it, he supposes it to be damaged, and imdervalues it. Tlie branches of the tree be- 

 ing previously all lopped off with the axe, the persons, in number according to the extent 

 of the work, with the bill smooth all the branches, cutting them in lengths of from two 

 feet six inches to three feet, down as small as one inch in circumference. The barkers, 

 principally women, are each provided with a smooth hard stone of about six or eight 

 pounds weight, beside which they sit down, and having collected a quantity of saplings, 

 branches, or twigs, they hold it on the stone with one hand, and with the mallet in the 

 other, they beat the piece till the bark be split from the wood, from the one end to the 

 other, and taking it off all the length of the piece, if possible, then lay it regularly aside, 

 till a bundle of considerable size is formed." 



6950. Drying the hark. " The point most particularly to be observed in this art is, putting the bark up 

 to dry ; which is done by putting the bark upon what is called the lofts or ranges. These are erected by 

 taking forked pieces of the loppings, called horses, the one three feet long, the other two feet six inches, 

 and driving each about four inches into the ground, opposite one another, about two feet asunder in the 

 breadth, and as much betwixt them, lengthways, as will admit long small pieces of wood to be put upon 

 them, and as many of these must be put together as will hold the bark of every day's peeling. These 

 ought to be erected in as dry and elevated a spot as can be found in the margin of the wood or better out- 

 side of it. The bark being carried and laid on this loft, with the thick ends of it all laid to the high side 

 of the range, and the small bark laid on to the thickness of about six inches ; and the bark taken off the 

 largest of the wood laid regularly on the top, whicli serves for a covering, and the lofts or ranges having 

 a declivity of about six inches, the rain will run off' them readily, and if properly put up in this manner, 

 they will keep out a great deal of rain. After it has lain in this state for three days, if the weather is 

 good and dry, it ought to be all turned over, and the small bark spread out, so as not to allow it to sit to- 

 gether, which, if much pressed, it is apt to do ; and if it does so with the natural sap in it, it has a chance 

 of moulding, which is extremely hurtful to the bark, and both lessens it in weight and in value. After 

 the bark has stood on the ranges about eight or ten days, if the weather be good, it may either be put 

 into a house or a shed, or if intended to be put up into a stack, it may now be done." A stack of bark 

 ought never to exceed eight feet in width, and twelve or fifteen feet in height, raised in the middle like 

 a haystack. If it is to stand any length of time in the stack, it ought to be thatched, and in that state 

 may remain all winter. The greatest care ought to be taken to preserve the color of the inner parts of 

 the bark, because the color of it is generally looked to as a principal criterion of its value, and the mer- 

 chant or tanner judges of its value chiefly by its color. Before being put into the stack, the natural sap 

 ought to be dried out of it, in order to prevent its fermenting ; because if a fermentation takes place in 

 one part of the stack, it generally goes through and spoils the whole. The same mode of treatment will 

 do for all kinds of bark as well as the oak ; but the birch has an outer or shredy skin upon it, that is of no 

 use, and rejected by the tanner, and, as already observed, must be peeled off! 



6951. Chopping the baric. " When the bark is ready for the tanner, it has to undergo the work of chop- 

 ping, which is done by driving in two or more stakes into the ground, with a fork on the upper end of 

 eacn, leaving them about two feet six inches from the ground, and laying a long small piece of wood across 

 between the two, where a number of people stand, and the bark is carried and laid down behind them, 

 which they take pp in their hands and lay on the cross tree, and then, with a sharp whittle or bill in 

 the other hand, they cut it into small pieces, about three inches in length ; when this is done, it is 

 trampled into bags, which hold about two hundredweight each, and in these bags it is weighed when 

 sold by the ton, in tons, hundred weights, quarters, and pounds, and in the above manner delivered to 

 the merchant or tanner." {Forester's Guide, 199.) 



6952. Pollard-trees, which may be considered in most cases as injurious deformitie.«, are lopped at stated 

 periods like copse-woods, and the lop, whether to be barked or otherwise, is to be treated in all respects 

 like that of copse. 



6953. The period at which trees are felled, for the sake of their timber, is determined 

 by various causes. By maturity of growth, or where the annual increase is so trifling as 



