LARCH. 



95 



where the saw section has to dhide them for knees. 

 Were the roots carefnlly bared at an early period, it 

 would tend to prevent the gravel from becoming im- 

 bedded in the bulb. Nothing can be more annoying 

 to the shipwTight, when he has bestowed his money, 

 ingenuity, and labour, upon an unwieldy root, and 

 brought his knees into figure at the cost of the 

 destruction of his tools by the enveloped gravel, to 

 discover stains of incipient rot Avhich renders it 

 lumber. 



This plan of baring the roots might be extended 

 to oak trees for knees, baring and pruning about a 

 foot out from the bulb annually. By exposure to 

 the air, the timber of the root w^ould mature and be- 

 come red wood of sufficient durability. When 

 covered with earth, the root of the oak remains white 

 or sap wood, and soon decays after being dug up, the 

 matured wood of the stem scarcely extending at all 

 underneath the surface of the ground. The roots of 

 the pme tribe are the reverse of this, at least the 

 bulb and the spurs near it, are the best matured, 

 reddest, toughest, most resinous, part of the tree. It 

 is probably unnecessary to observe, that it would be 

 folly to remove the earth from the bulb of trees in 

 situations where water would stand for any length 

 of time in the excavation. 



