382 PROPEUTIES AND USES OF TIMBER. 



ly done. The best method of seasoning is to kill 

 the vegetation of the tree the season before it is cut 

 down. This may be done either by peeling off the 

 whole bark, as recommended by Monteath *, or 

 by merely peeling it off all romid the tree, to the 

 extent of six inches perpendicular, close to the root. 

 If treated in this manner early in spring, the tree 

 may be cut next winter. 



Besides the value and importance of larch-timber 

 in the other parts of ship-building, the roots form 

 excellent knees, and great numbers of them are now 

 used for this purpose f . To understand this, it is 

 necessary to explain, that the roots of the tree branch 

 off horizontally under ground in three, four, or five 

 leading stems, nearly at right angles with the up- 

 right trunk of the tree. These roots always attain 

 a large size in trees of some age, and they are of 

 great strength and toughness. To know whether 

 the roots are of size sufficient for knees, the sur- 

 face-earth must be removed to the extent of about 

 two feet around the tree, with a mattock. 



* Forester's Guide, p. 248. 



t A knee is a piece of wood used for joining the beams to 

 the ship's side, and is in shape two sides of a triangle. The 

 one side is screwed to the ship's side, the other to the beam, 

 which is placed between two knees, both of which, with the 

 beam, are transfixed by screw-bolts. 



